Mullah Mansoor: reportedly dead

Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor has died of gunshot  injuries, said Sultan Faizy, spokesman for Afghan first Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum in his twitter account late Thursday.

Aktar Mansoor replaced former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who was confirmed dead late in July.

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.

Akhtar Mansoor, according to local television channel 1TV, was injured in a factional fighting in Quetta city of Pakistan on Tuesday and finally died of his injuries.

But a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a statement, has rejected the report as baseless, saying intelligence agencies, by launching such baseless propaganda, were attempting to deceive the public.

Mujahid also noted that Mullah Mansoor has neither  been injured nor died

Local media, citing former Taliban leader Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqi, reported the death of Mullah Mansoor on Thursday.