Afghan Taliban leader injured in internal firefight

“We are trying to establish whether Mansoor is dead or alive”, Sultan Faizi, the spokesman for the Afghan first vice president, told AFP news agency.

Sarhadi and at least six Taliban militants were killed in the firefight, while Mansour was taken to hospital after being “critically” injured, Fayzi said.

The source close to the Taliban said the firing seemed to be spontaneous rather than planned.

Afghan officials said Mansoor was injured during a meeting of the Afghan Taliban in Kuchlak area, some 25 km east of Quetta, the provincial capital, on Wednesday.

The announcement set off a power struggle, with Mullah Dadullah among the most prominent of those who broke away and accused Mullah Mansour of conspiring with Pakistani intelligence to hide their leader’s death and claim power over the insurgency.

Faizi said Mansur became embroiled in a heated exchange with Mullah Abdullah Sardari, a Taliban commander.

“You will always hear such kind of rumours from Afghan side whenever Pakistan will make effort to restart talks to ensure peace in the region”, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said there were confirmed reports of Mansour’s injury, but not his death.

Some Taliban leaders then met to appoint Mansour, one of Omar’s deputies, as the new Taliban leader. But they have since plummeted, with Kabul blaming Islamabad for a surge in Taliban violence in 2015.

Mansoor’s leadership was challenged among some followers, and a breakaway Taliban faction emerged, followed by clashes between the two groups. The group also launched an assault on the city of Kunduz in September, capturing it before Afghan forces conducted a counter-offensive to wrestle it back from the militants.

The Taliban on Thursday released an audio clip from a man claiming to be Sarhadi, staunchly rejecting reports of the gunfight as “enemy propaganda”.

The militants said to be holding him have not made any public demands concerning his possible release.

Ghani was cautious about prospects for any quick breakthrough after years of what he called “an undeclared state of hostilities” between the two countries.

Afghanistan peace talks have suffered because of rift within Taliban’s top ranks.

A second source said the dispute had broken out over manners of coping with the rival faction, following heavy fighting in the southeastern province of Zabul last month in which dozens of people were killed.