ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Supreme Leader of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Muhammad Omar has died; however, this has yet to be confirmed by the militant group.
In a report on Wednesday, the BBC while citing the Afghan government and intelligence sources said that the reclusive one-eyed leader of the militant organisation died two to three years ago.
The report says that when a spokesman of the Taliban was contacted in this regard, he said that the group would issue a statement shortly.
However, the Afghan Taliban and sources close to the ongoing dialogue process between the Afghan government and the Taliban have rejected reports that Mullah Omar is dead.
Mullah Omar “is very much alive” and the rumours of his death are aimed at drawing out the reclusive leader, a Taliban spokesman was quoted by the Voice of America as saying.
But on the other hand, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency ‘National Directorate of Security’ Abdul Hassib Seddiqi said that said the reclusive Mullah Omar has been dead for more than two years.
“We confirm officially that he is dead,” Seddiqi told The Associated Press Wednesday.
Seddiqi said that Mullah Omar died in a hospital in Karachi in April 2013.
It comes amid the ongoing dialogue process between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, aimed at ending the years long conflict in the country.
In a statement issued to media on the occasion of recent Eidul Fitr festival, Mullah Omar backed peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
The Taliban leader’s statement reportedly suggested that negotiations were a “legitimate” way of achieving the objective of ending occupation by foreign forces.
The statement said that political means to achieve “sacred goals” could be pursued “concurrently with armed jihad” under Islamic principles.
Mullah Muhammed Omar
- Taliban say he was born in 1960 in the village of Chah-i-Himmat, in Kandahar province
- Fought in resistance against Soviet occupation in 1980s, suffering a shrapnel injury to his right eye
- Forged close ties to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden
- Became “Supreme Leader” of Taliban movement in 1996
- US-led forces overthrew his government in 2001; US state department has a $10m bounty on him
- Earlier this year the Taliban published a biography of him saying he does not own a home and has no foreign bank account, and saying he “has a special sense of humour”
