Pressure on Taliban to prove ‘injured’ leader still alive

An audiotape purportedly recorded by Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor has been released in an attempt to rubbish claims he was killed or injured in a fight with other militants.

Several sources in the Taliban have said that Mansour, whose claim to the leadership is rejected by a rival faction, was seriously wounded and possibly killed in a shootout at the house of another Taliban leader near Quetta in Pakistan on Tuesday. “The enemy was bent upon creating panic among the Muslims and the Mujahideen”, the Taliban leader said in the message.

Sultan Faizy, spokesman for Afghan first Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum, said in his twitter account late Thursday that Mullah Mansoor succumbed to injuries he suffered during a gunfight.

Mujahid’s remarks came amid a mystery over the fate of Taliban supremo as the Afghan government had claimed that the Taliban chief had either been injured or killed in gunfight in Pakistan.

The claims over Mansoor’s death came after renewed efforts to revive peace talks with Taliban fighters.

REUTERS/Taliban Handout/Handout via ReutersMullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, Taliban militants’ new leader, is seen in this undated handout photograph by the Taliban.

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. In addition, an estranged Taliban colleague of Mansour’s told VOA he thought the message was authentic. “This is all enemy propaganda”, the message added.

There was no independent verification of the audio.

Reuters The Reuters news source agency quoted senior Taliban officers as saying the voice on the recording appeared to be in that of Mullah Mansour.

“The sheer volume of rumours suggesting that something has happened to Mansour will pressure the Taliban to offer proof that he’s alive”, a Western official in Kabul told AFP.

There has been no statement so far from Mansour, who had effectively been in charge of the movement at least since Omar’s death.

Last month, the breakaway faction of the Taliban elected its own leader, Mullah Mohammed Rasool Akhund, sparking speculation over the unity of the group.

The Wall Street Journal couldn’t immediately verify the authenticity of the message, which refers directly to Kuchlagh, the area in Pakistan where the firefight allegedly took place.