Afghan Taliban chief, Mullah Akhtar Masour, was reported wounded in a firefight following a verbal dispute amid meeting of militant commanders held at an undisclosed area ‘in Pakistan’, a foreign news agency quoted Afghan officials.
Sultan Faizi, the spokesman for the Afghan first vice president told AFP, ‘Mansour was seriously injured. He was rushed to hospital and we are not sure if he survived his wounds,’
An Afghan intelligence source confirmed his account, and insurgent sources also told AFP that Mansour had been injured. Moreover, The report also claimed that four people were killed and Mullah Mansour reportedly wounded in the firefight occurred on Wednesday (today).
On the other hand, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that any such firefight took place.
It should be mentioned that Mansour was appointed as the new Taliban chief on July 31 this year following confirmation of death of former chief Mullah Omar.
The sources differed on the location of the confrontation, with the insurgents saying it took place near Kandahar, the main city of southern Afghanistan and the birthplace of the Taliban, while other sources said it was in the Pakistani city of Quetta, a historic Taliban refuge.
However all the sources agreed the meeting was at the home of Abdullah Sarhadi, a commander in Mansour’s group.
The Taliban sources and a Western source said Sarhadi was a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner.
