Former Afghan Taliban commanders claim death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour

“This is enemy propaganda”, a person claiming to be Mullah Mansour says in the message.

Mansour was announced the leader of the Taliban on 31 July soon after the terror group confirmed the death of its long-time leader Mullah Mohammad Omar after keeping his death a secret for two years. “I would like to discuss the Kuchlak issue, where my name is mentioned in some media outlets in that in a shootout between two Taliban factions my injury or death resulted”, the human being within the recording stated, identifying himself as the group’s leader.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a brief message that they would discredit such reports.

Afghan officials said on Wednesday that Mansoor had been wounded on Tuesday in Pakistan.

Rahimullah Yousufzai, a Pakistani analyst and long-time observer of the Taliban, said the voice sounded like Mansour’s.

“I have recorded my message to let everyone know that I am alive”.

The statement released on Saturday referred to an incident in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul on Friday, in which at least eight civilians were killed in front of a mosque by mortar rounds fired by Afghan government forces.

The reported clash, which exposes dissent within the Taliban’s top ranks, comes just four months after Mansour was appointed leader in an acrimonious leadership succession.

The Afghan leaders who used the media to spread the rumours show their weaknesses, he said. “During the discussion, some senior people developed differences and they opened fire on each other”, one of the commanders said.It is unclear where the shooting took place, with some sources saying it happened outside Quetta in western Pakistan and others in the Taliban heartland near Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The audio message by Mullah Mansoor was released late on Saturday night and five days after reports circulated regarding his death.

Vehement denials by the group of any firefight have fallen on skeptical ears, especially after they kept the death of longtime chief Mullah Omar secret for two years.

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.

The shootout also threatens to derail a renewed regional push to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban.

A Taliban spokesman rejected the claim as “baseless”, and said Mansour was alive and well.

He was believed to be a proponent of such talks, a stance which prompted rancor among hardline insurgents.