Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour dead

Kabul: Afghan Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour has died of injuries, a senior official said.
Sultan Faizy, spokesman for Afghanistan first Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum, tweeted: “Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour died of injuries.”
Akhtar Mansour replaced former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who was confirmed dead in July.
However, Taliban leadership by Mansour has divided the hardliner group into factions and the prominent one is led by Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, a close aide to Omar’s family.
Akhtar Mansour was injured in a factional fighting in Quetta city of Pakistan on Tuesday and finally died of injuries, Xinhua reported.
Taliban’s purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a statement, has rejected the report as baseless.
Mujahid said that intelligence agencies, by launching such baseless propaganda, were attempting to deceive the public opinion.
The media, citing former Taliban leader Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqi, reported the death of Mullah Mansour on Thursday. (IANS)