It wasn’t instantly potential to authenticate the message’s authenticity, though the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, had hours earlier stated the assertion can be let go soon. “This is all enemy propaganda”.
Advertisement
Rahimullah Yousufzai, a Pakistani analyst and long-time observer of the Taliban, said the voice sounded like Mansour’s.
“About the news that there was fighting between the Taliban in a meeting and my name was also mentioned, that I was wounded and some media and some people said that I passed away later”.
An Afghan man reads a local newspaper with photos of the new leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015.
Afghan officials claimed that Mansour was injure d on Wednesday during a meeting of the Afghan Taliban in Kuchlak area, some 25 km from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
The insurgent group released the 16-minute file late on Saturday following reports citing multiple intelligence and militant sources claiming the Taliban chief was killed in a firefight on Tuesday inside Pakistan.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said on Twitter Mansour was wounded in a firefight near Quetta, in western Pakistan, but there has been no direct evidence.
But the vehement denials by the radical group fell on sceptical ears, especially after they kept the death of longtime chief Mullah Omar secret for two years.
The assertion launched on Saturday referred to an incident in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul on Friday, during which at the least eight civilians have been killed in entrance of a mosque by mortar rounds fired by Afghan authorities forces. “If they’d done it earlier it might have been more effective”, he said. Omar was killed in 2013 and was in charge of the Taliban for two decades.
But splits immediately emerged in the group, with some top leaders refusing to pledge allegiance to Mansour, saying the process to select him was rushed and even biased.
The claims over Mansoor’s death came after renewed efforts to revive peace talks with Taliban fighters.
Mansour was appointed leader four months ago in an acrimonious leadership transition and his death, if confirmed, could intensify the power struggle within the fractious group.
Advertisement
He was believed to be a proponent of such talks, a stance which prompted rancor among hardline insurgents.
