Afghan intelligence officials confirm death of Taliban leader Mullah Omar

Posted 2015-07-30 02:52 by Grunt Report

DEVELOPING: Afghan’s main intelligence agency has confirmed that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the mysterious one-eyed leader of the Taliban who has had a $10 million price on his head since 9/11, is dead, a development that could signal a power struggle within the group.

Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, said Wednesday that Mullah Omar died in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi in April 2013.

“We confirm officially that he is dead,” he told The Associated Press.

The White House said the reports of Omar’s death “are credible,” and a senior U.S. official told Fox News that Omar has been dead since April 2013, likely due to a liver or kidney issue.

The Office of President Ashraf Ghani also released a statement confirming Omar’s death.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, based on credible information, confirms that Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the Taliban died in April 2013 in Pakistan,” the statement said. “The government of Afghanistan believes that grounds for the Afghan peace talks are more paved now than before, and thus calls on all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process.”

Afghan government sources told the BBC early Wednesday morning that Omar, who went into hiding after U.S. forces drove the Taliban from Kabul for harboring Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden while his forces plotted and executed the attacks on the World Trade Center, may have been been dead for as long as three years. Rumors of his death have surfaced previously, but this is the first time they have been addressed by top government sources.

“We confirm officially that he is dead”

– Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security

There was no immediate comment from Washington, where a long-standing reward of $10 million had been offered by the State Department for information leading to Omar’s capture.

Earlier, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi rebuffed Wednesday’s reports of Omar’s death, according to Sky News.

“According to my information Mullah Omar is still alive and leading the movement,” Ahmadi said.

The cause of Omar’s death was not known. A report in the Express Tribune newspaper of Karachi, Pakistan, quoted a member of the Taliban’s central leadership council who said Omar had died of tuberculosis in early 2013 and had been buried somewhere in Afghanistan. The paper, citing Taliban sources, reported that a new leader of the Islamist group would be elected before July 31.