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Reports of Taliban Leader Mullah Omar’s Death Spur Afghan Inquiry Afghan Spy Agency Says Mullah Omar, Taliban Founder, Died in 2013
(about 2 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan government said on Wednesday that it was investigating new reports that Mullah Muhammad Omar, the elusive leader of the Taliban, is dead. KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan intelligence service said Wednesday that it believes that the Taliban’s reclusive founder and spiritual leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, died in a Pakistani hospital in 2013, a dozen years after he fled Afghanistan.
The reports are the latest in a chorus of unsourced or anonymous claims. The BBC had earlier on Wednesday quoted unnamed government officials confirming Mullah Omar’s death, and the Afghan president’s office convened a news conference at which Sayed Zafar Hashemi, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said he had ordered an investigation. The spokesman for the intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, said in an interview that he is believed to have died in a hospital outside the Pakistani city of Karachi.
In recent days, breakaway insurgents have said that Mullah Omar, who has not been seen in public since before the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, died, and that it is well known among the Taliban that he was buried in Zabul Province. It is unclear, however, when or how the agency received that information. Late last year, Rahmatullah Nabil, the acting Afghan intelligence chief, said he could not be sure “whether Omar is alive or dead. That’s difficult to say at this stage.”
Mr. Hashemi said at the news conference, “We have seen those reports, but we are still in the process of assessing those reports.” The announcement follows months of increasing speculation that Mullah Omar had died. The issue has become a major point of disgruntlement within the Taliban itself, with some commanders splitting off because they had not seen the leader for years.
A number of Pakistani news organizations have recently published similar claims, but have offered no confirmable details.
Rumors of Mullah Omar’s death have surfaced periodically over the years, always denied by Taliban officials, who said he remained incommunicado for protection against American airstrikes and raids.Rumors of Mullah Omar’s death have surfaced periodically over the years, always denied by Taliban officials, who said he remained incommunicado for protection against American airstrikes and raids.
Last week, a group known as Feday-e-Mahaz, a Taliban splinter group, made the death claims, while The News, a Pakistani newspaper, wrote that Mullah Omar’s son Yaqoub would be replacing him.Last week, a group known as Feday-e-Mahaz, a Taliban splinter group, made the death claims, while The News, a Pakistani newspaper, wrote that Mullah Omar’s son Yaqoub would be replacing him.
Afghan officials have previously killed off their nemesis, in reports at least, with the spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate for Security, Lutfullah Mashal, having been quoted in 2011 as saying that the Pakistani intelligence service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, had killed Mullah Omar after United States Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden.
American officials in Washington said on Wednesday that they were looking into the reports, but had no immediate comment.American officials in Washington said on Wednesday that they were looking into the reports, but had no immediate comment.