In the 16-minute voice recording, which was emailed to media by a Taliban spokesman on Saturday, the voice, purportedly belonging to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, says the rumors about his death are intentionally spread to create rifts in Taliban.
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In a two-minute audio recording sent to media by the Taliban late Saturday, Mansoor insists the reported gunfight in neighboring Pakistan never happened. “This is propaganda of the enemy”, the person talking on the message stated.
Mujahid said it would take some time to put together an audio message from Mansour as he was in a “far away place” where only a few trusted militant commanders are able to contact him.
Several Taliban members and Afghan and Pakistani officials said Mansur had been seriously wounded and taken to the hospital.
His declare to the management has been rejected by some factions within the Taliban who’ve accused him of overlaying up Mullah Omar’s demise and seizing energy with out correct authority.
The audio message was released two days after Sultan Faizy, a spokesman for the first vice president of Afghanistan, said Mansour had died of injuries he sustained in a scuffle in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
“I haven’t seen Kuchlak in years”, he said in a relaxed drawl.
“This is completely unfounded and let me tell you, and believe me, that I have not visited the Kuchlak area of Quetta for years”, Mansour said in the voice message. “Mansour himself fooled us for two years, how can we trust this now?”
The man also offered his condolences to the relatives of civilians killed in central Wardak province where a firefight erupted between government forces and the Taliban on Friday.
Despite his appointment was called an unanimous decision by the group’s Quetta Council, Mullah Omar’s brother, Mullah Manan along with various other Taliban leaders had opposed with his election as the replacement supreme leader of Taliban.
The movement, which saw its first formal split last month, has appeared anxious to quell speculation about Mansour’s fate.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Friday acknowledged that the group is facing a problem of credibility following the controversy over the death of their leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.
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The Taliban has been struggling to contain divisions ever since Mansour, the movement’s longtime number two, was named leader after Mullah Omar’s death was confirmed in July.
