Taliban confirms Mullah Mansoor’s death, names successor

The Taliban confirmed on Wednesday the death of its leader Mullah Mansoor in an airstrike by a US drone on Saturday, and announced the appointment of Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as his successor.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (as the Taliban calls itself) announces that its leader ... Mullah Mansoor attained martyrdom Saturday in a US drone airstrike,” the insurgents said in a statement sent to EFE.

Haibatullah Akhundzada, a respected cleric wellversed in sacred texts, has previously headed the Taliban’s judiciary, as well as being Mansoor’s second deputy leader.

His appointment came “after a long discussion,” the statement said.

The rebels also announced in the statement that Sirajuddin Haqqani, who was secondincommand to Mullah Mansoor since he was named leader in July 2015 following Mullah Omar’s death, will be his first deputy.

Sirajuddin, son of Haqqani network founder Maulawi Jalaludin Haqqani, replaced his father in 2005 as leader of the terrorist group founded in the 1970s, which the United States has repeatedly accused Pakistan of harboring.

Meanwhile, the post of second deputy to the new Taliban leader will be occupied by Mullah Omar’s son, Mullah Yaquba, the statement said.

The insurgents explained that Mullah Mansoor died in a border area between the northern Afghan province of Kandahar and the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, while the US explicitly said he died in Pakistan.

Despite confirmation by Afghanistan and the US, the Pakistani government refused to confirm the Taliban leader’s death on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan said the drone did not cross the frontier and that the attack had been carried out from outside its territory.