Taliban Leader ‘Critical’ After Gun Battle

A source close to the head of the Afghan Taliban said Wednesday that the group’s leader has been injured in a shootout with other senior Taliban members – a claim the militant group stringently denied.

Mansoor succeeded Afghan Taliban founder Mullah Omar in August after the news of Omar’s death in 2013 became public earlier this year.

The clash broke out just four months after Mansour was appointed Taliban leader in an acrimonious leadership succession soon after the group belatedly confirmed longtime chief Mullah Omar’s death.

Meanwhile, the Taliban’s official website carried a statement late on Wednesday night titled, ‘Rumour about leader of Islamic Emirate being wounded is absolutely baseless’. They accused Afghanistan’s government of fabricating the incident, perhaps to undermine a planned meeting between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif next week in Islamabad.

The shooting reveals deep divisions and a power struggle within the Taliban after Mansoor assumed leadership. Sarhadi had been detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention center but was released in 2012.

A well-placed western official said a dozen sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan confirmed that Mansoor had been wounded, but another half a dozen denied the claims.

A senior Taliban commander said that some senior leaders of the group had differences and opened fire at each other.

Mansour is reported to be under growing pressure from Pakistani intelligence to restart peace talks with Afghan authorities, a contentious issue that has prompted much rancour within hardline insurgent ranks.

In interviews with Reuters news agency, two Taliban commanders confirmed that Mansour was shot.

There are conflicting accounts of the incident, with different factions of the Taliban reporting different versions of events, and some are denying the shooting even took place.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the leader was “very seriously injured” in a “heavy exchange of fire”.

Mansoor boosted is standing among Afghan and Pakistan-based Taliban militants following the temporary capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.

The Taliban have seen a new resurgence under Mansour, opening new battlefronts despite the rise of the rival Islamic State in Afghanistan.