Kabul: Conflicting reports have emerged over Afghanistan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s death, with the government attempting to establish that he is dead and the hardliner group denying reports that Mansour was even injured.
Reports emerged Tuesday that Mansour was severely injured during fighting between his supporters and opponents near the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, in Balochistan, but a Taliban spokesman said the reports are “absolutely baseless”, Xinhua reported. Mansour, according to the media reports, sustained serious injuries and since then has not been seen in public. Several Taliban loyalists were killed in the gunfight, according to the reports.
The media citing former Taliban leader Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqi reported Mansour’s death Thursday. Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in a tweet confirmed that Mullah Mansour was injured Tuesday. Sultan Faizy, the spokesman for first the vice-president, Abdul Rashid Dostum, confirmed Mansour’s death Thursday on his Twitter account.
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement sent to media has dismissed the report as “absolutely baseless”, saying intelligence agencies by launching such propaganda were trying to deceive the public. Zabihullah Mujahid said Mansour has never been injured.
Another Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yusuf Ahmadi, has also rejected as groundless the reports about Mansour. In an online statement, Yusuf Ahmadi said no clash had taken place with the Taliban in Kuchlak town of Quetta in Pakistan, adding that Mansour was sound and leading the jihad against enemies. IANS