The fate of ‘injured’ Taliban chief remains unknown

“We are trying to establish whether Mansour is dead or alive”, said Sultan Faizi, the spokesman for the Afghan first vice president, adding that the shootout left him in a “critical” condition. 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.

Faizy says there was an argument, followed by shooting that wounded Mansoor and killed six Taliban figures, including Sarhadi.

The firefight is said to have erupted spontaneously at a meeting between Taliban commanders near the Pakistani city of Quetta according to an unnamed Pakistani intelligence official, though a Taliban spokesperson said the claims were “absolutely baseless”.

“The Taliban weren’t able to re-unify themselves as before following the death of Mullah Omar”, said Haroun Mir, a Kabul-based political analyst. They spread these rumors about a clash between Taliban leaders. That angered some other Taliban commanders, resulting in an ongoing power struggle within the group. Afghan officers consider Mansour was both gravely injured or died before he might reach a Pakistani hospital.

Rifts within the Taliban have undercut attempts to restart peace talks.

“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.

But the dialogue process stalled soon after Omar’s death was announced. 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.

If confirmed, the battle exposes deepening divisions within the fractious militant movement, which saw its first formal split last month after a breakaway faction led by Mullah Mohamed Rasool surfaced – the first formal split in the once-unified group.

Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the militants, hosted a historic first round of peace negotiations in July. With the revelation that he concealed Omar’s death for more than two years, secrecy will only erode his support further.

Afghan officials on Wednesday confirmed reports of the death of his deputy, Mullah Dadullah, a prominent commander and a major rival to Mansour.

A number of senior commanders refused to pledge allegiance to him and a splinter group opposed to him was set up last month under Mullah Mohammad Rasool.