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Mullah Omar: Taliban appoints Mullah Akhtar Mansour successor Mullah Omar: Taliban choose deputy Mansour as successor
(35 minutes later)
The Taliban have appointed a successor to Mullah Omar, their leader who was reported dead by the Afghan government on Wednesday, the BBC has been told.The Taliban have appointed a successor to Mullah Omar, their leader who was reported dead by the Afghan government on Wednesday, the BBC has been told.
Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Mullah Omar's deputy, will replace him, sources close to the Taliban leadership said.Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Mullah Omar's deputy, will replace him, sources close to the Taliban leadership said.
Correspondents say the move is likely to divide the militants, and that many senior figures opposed the appointment.Correspondents say the move is likely to divide the militants, and that many senior figures opposed the appointment.
Pakistan says peace talks it was due to hold between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been postponed.Pakistan says peace talks it was due to hold between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been postponed.
The Taliban had earlier distanced themselves from the talks, which correspondents said was a further sign of division within the group. The Foreign Ministry said this was at the Taliban's request due to uncertainty over Mullah Omar's death.
It is thought some in the Taliban would have preferred Omar's son to succeed him, and accuse circles within the movement close to Pakistan of imposing Mullah Mansour on them. The Taliban leader died two years ago in a Karachi hospital according to Afghanistan, but Pakistan has always denied that he was in the country and is yet to confirm his death.
There has been no confirmation yet from Pakistan on Omar's death. Analysis: Waheed Massoud, BBC Afghan editor, Kabul
The Taliban leader died two years ago in a Karachi hospital according to Afghanistan, but Pakistan has always denied that he was in the country. The naming of Mullah Mansour as Taliban leader was far from unanimous and followed days of intense debate.
Sources close to the movement's leading council, or shura, say many senior commanders and other Taliban heavyweights were dismayed by the decision.
They are thought to include the movement's top military commander, Mullah Qaum Zakir, as well as Tayeb Agha, the head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, and Mullah Habibullah, a member of the Quetta shura. They would have preferred Mullah Omar's son, Yaqoob, to succeed him, and accuse pro-Pakistani circles of imposing Mullah Mansour on the rebels.
A Taliban statement distancing the movement from more talks with the Afghan government reflects splits over how to proceed.
Mullah Mansour is pro-talks. He is to be given the title of Supreme Leader - not Leader of the Faithful, the title that Mullah Omar had.
The group appointed Siraj Haqqani, a key leader in another major Afghan military group, the Haqqani network, as Mansour's deputy, sources said.
Mullah Omar had led the Taliban since its creation during Afghanistan's civil war in the early 1990s. His alliance with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden prompted the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
He had been in hiding ever since, and although was not thought to have significant day-to-day involvement in the group remained a key figurehead.
The failure to prove that Mullah Omar was alive was a major factor behind the defection of several senior Taliban commanders to the so-called Islamic State group, according to the BBC's former Kabul correspondent, David Loyn.