[Tolo News] Reports continue to circulate that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour was killed during a Taliban faction clash on Wednesday in Quetta, Pakistain, but a front man for the group has denied these claims.The front man also said that Mullah Mansour was not in Quetta at the time of the clash, but that he was in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
Political analysts believe however, that festivities between the Taliban and the breakaway group have reached a pinnacle.
Earlier reports circulated about the death of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah one of the splinter-Taliban group's deputies, and now reports of Mullah Mansour's death are doing the rounds.
"Many of Mullah Mohammad Rasoul Noorzai's branch have been killed. Those Taliban who separated from [Mullah Mansour's] Taliban are really worried and afraid because apparently the Taliban is not talking to them nor talking about negotiations, but in reality they are in search of them and waiting for an opportunity to target them," said Hassan Haqyar a former deputy minister during the Taliban regime.
However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
details are sketchy about the festivities between the two factions.
But Ghaleb Mujaheed, Achin district governor, in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
, said: "Both of the Taliban [groups] are puppets of Pakistain. This is Pakistain that brings one group for us and then another group."
The reports of Mullah Mansour's apparent death have however come close on the heels of renewed efforts this past week by Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title
Most Evil Man in the Worldand didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
and Islamabad to restart the stalled peace talks process with the Taliban.
However a number of Afghan analysts said they do not trust Pakistain's promises and said Pakistain is trying to make sure the Taliban is prepared for next year's fighting season.