Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour no more

Conflicting reports have deepened uncertainty over the fate of Afghan Taleban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, after the group repeatedly denied he had been hurt in a gunfight following a dispute with other leaders.

Reports emerged on Tuesday that Mansour was severely injured during fighting between his supporters and opponents near the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, in Balochistan, but Taliban spokesman said the reports are “absolutely baseless”, Xinhua reported.

Mainstream Taliban officials denied for years that the group’s founder and previous leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, was dead, before finally admitting this summer that he had died two years earlier.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the incident ever took place and said Mansour was in Afghanistan.

“The local commanders, who are the backbone of the insurgency, seem to disobey their leaders’ orders when it comes to subduing those who don’t accept Mullah Akhtar Mansour as the supreme leader”, the Afghan official said. “Mansour’s death could spark new infighting over the Taliban leadership”, he said.

Mullah Mansour, 55, was born in the Afghani province of Kandahar. “Mullah Mansoor is safe and nothing happened to him”, he said.

“Simply posting denials… won’t be considered credible enough, especially after Omar’s death was concealed for years”.

However, assuming Taliban leadership by Mansoor has divided the hardliner group into four factions and the prominent one, however, is led by Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, a close aide to Omar’s family.

Pakistan, which has historically backed the Taliban, hosted a first round of peace negotiations in July but the dialogue process stalled soon after Omar’s death was announced. Mansour is believed to have past ties to elements in Pakistan’s intelligence service, and he has generally been viewed as more receptive to peace talks than some other Taliban commanders.