Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has been seriously wounded and possibly killed in Pakistan in a shootout between senior members of the Islamist movement.
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“The government confirms the incident in which Mullah Mansoor was wounded on the other side of the border, but we do not have any confirmed reports about his death”, said a statement in Pashto and Dari languages on the official account of Afghan Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah.
A Taliban spokesman denied that Mansour was injured at all, saying the reports are “absolutely baseless”, but the group typically does not speak publicly on the status of its prominent members. The group claimed that Mansour was not in the area and that there was no altercation in that part of Pakistan, anyway.
Speaking to Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied any incident of firing, and attributed the story to a newspaper recently launched by the Afghan presidential palace.
Afghan officials on Wednesday confirmed reports that Rasool’s deputy, Mullah Dadullah, was killed last month in a gunfight with Mansour loyalists. For years, there were off-and-on rumors that Omar was dead and no longer leading the Taliban.
But they all agreed the meeting was at the home of Abdullah Sarhadi, a commander in Mansour’s group and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.
“During the discussion, some senior people developed differences and they opened fire on each other”, a Taliban commander said.
The fissures began to show four months back when Mansoor was hurriedly made Taliban’s new leader.
Mansour’s appointment prompted splits in the Taliban after its founder Mullah Omar’s death emerged in July.
Many were also unhappy that Omar’s death had been kept secret for two years – during which time annual Eid statements were issued in his name. Mullah Mohammad Rasool Akhund, has formed his own Taliban group and has openly challenged Mansour’s authority.
Pakistan hosted the historic first round of peace talks in July.
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The United States and China have been pushing for the process to restart, but frosty ties between Islamabad and Kabul have been hampering those efforts. However, he has said talks are complicated by divisions within the Taliban following the announcement of Mullah’s Omar’s death.
