KANDAHAR: A senior figure of a breakaway Taliban faction has been killed in battle between rival groups in Afghanistan, an Afghan police official said on Thursday.

Mullah Mansoor Dadullah was lured into a trap and killed by members of the main Taliban group in the Khak-i-Afghan district of Zabul province, the provincial deputy police chief, Ghulam Jelani Farahi, said.

Dadullah, who acted as a deputy to the splinter faction’s leader Mullah Mohammad Rasool, was killed late on Wednesday, he said.

Also read: Fierce clashes between rival Afghan Taliban factions: officials

Farahi’s claim couldn’t be independently confirmed and the breakaway faction did not report it. The area of inter-Taliban fighting is inaccessible to reporters.

However, a Taliban commander in Zabul said that Dadullah was killed by one of his bodyguards “who was working as a spy” for Mullah Mansoor. “When the other bodyguards were not paying attention, this Mansoor man opened fire on Dadullah and killed him,” the Taliban commander said.

Rasool’s faction had disputed the legitimacy of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who became Taliban leader after the announcement in July that founder Mullah Mohammad Omar was dead.

Rasool was elected as head of the breakaway faction on Nov 1. It is not known how many Taliban commanders or fighters are loyal to him.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015