Taliban to release audio to prove their leader is alive

Kabul: The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan has said that it will release an audio recording of their leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour to prove he is still alive after some reports claimed that he was killed in a gunfight.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Friday acknowledged that the group is facing a problem of credibility following the controversy over the death of their leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.

“We have already put efforts into sending our men to get a voice recording of the emir himself in order to avoid the growing confusion and assure the people about his well-being,” The New York Times quoted Mujahid as saying.

An Afghan government official and two Taliban commanders, requesting anonymity, said on Friday that Mullah Mansour was shot on Tuesday in the home of Taliban’s chief judicial official Qazi Haybatullah in Quetta in Pakistan.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official had also confirmed the attack on Mullah Mansour on Friday.