Taliban leader Mullah Omar ‘is dead’: report | Dawn News – Pakistan |
The leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Omar, has died, a report on the BBC website quoted unnamed Afghan government sources as saying on Wednesday.
The report said that the reclusive one-eyed leader of the militant organisation had died two to three years ago. However, this information could not be independently verified. The Afghan Taliban have also declined to comment and said that a statement in this regard would be issued shortly.
An Afghan government official said that an emergency press conference had been called on the subject of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, amid rumours of his death. The official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to give statements to the press, did not provide further details.
Read: Taliban publish biography of ‘RPG-loving’ Mullah Omar
The development comes amid the recently started peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Murree which were said to be endorsed by Mullah Omar. The peace talks hosted by Pakistan were also attended by officials from China and the US.
Also read: Taliban chief Mullah Omar endorses talks with Afghan govt
Also, Daesh or the self-styled Islamic State (IS) had in the past few months increased its footprint in Afghanistan establishing itself in previously Taliban-controlled areas. Daesh and Taliban are locked in fight also for control of some other regions.
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The US State Department had offered a $10 million bounty on his head and described him as a tall male with a shrapnel wound to the right eye.
- ○ Top IS group chief ‘killed by US air strike’ in Afghanistan – July 2015
○ The Superpower and The One-Eyed Mullah: A minuet for peace in Afghanistan
Confirmed By Statement Afghan Government today
Updated info below the fold …
Taliban leader Mullah Omar is dead, says Afghan government | The Guardian |
The Afghan government has said that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar died in Pakistan more than two years ago.
The announcement was based on “credible information”, the president’s spokesman said in an emailed statement on Wednesday, without providing any further details on what the information was.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, based on credible information, confirms that Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the Taliban died in April 2013 in Pakistan,” the statement said.
“The government of Afghanistan believes that grounds for the Afghan peace talks are more paved now than before, and thus calls on all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process.”
The White House said it believed the reports of Omar’s death were credible and US intelligence was looking into them.
The Taliban has yet to confirm or deny the claims, which follow a week of speculation about the the fate of the insurgent leader. A Pakistani intelligence official, speaking to the Guardian, said they had been aware of Omar’s death since January 2014, based on information received from “close aides” of the militant chief and family members.
Dead or alive? The story of the Taliban’s missing leader Mohammed Omar
Mullah Omar’s authority has also been increasingly questioned by a younger generation of leaders within the Taliban, who appear split between more pragmatic elements and “die-hards” who reject the stuttering peace negotiations.
Omar retained the nominal allegiance of al-Qaida’s leaders, however. In 2014, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had succeeded Bin Laden at the terrorist group’s head three years before, renewed his own pledge of loyalty to Omar.
Afghan govt: Mullah Omar died in Karachi in April 2013 | Dawn News – Pakistan |
- ○ A Taliban spokesman insisted that Mullah Omar was still alive | VOA News |
○ Afghan govt, Taliban resume peace talks in Murree on Friday