Errant Afghan Taliban tweet shows spokesman's location as Pakistan

Published October 4, 2014
The image shows a screenshot of Zabiullah Mujahid's tweet.
The image shows a screenshot of Zabiullah Mujahid's tweet.

KABUL: An apparently errant tweet by the Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan gave his location as being in Pakistan.

On Friday, a tweet by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claiming an attack included geolocation information that suggested he sent the message from Sindh, Pakistan.

Mujahid later sent a tweet Saturday describing the location leak as an “enemy plot”.

He also offered his Afghan telephone number to confirm his identity and wrote: “With full confidence, I can say that I am in my own country.”

Twitter says such geolocation data is based on latitude and longitude data or other information provided by users at the time of their message.

In an explanation of geolocation, Twitter itself warns: “Remember, once you post something online, it's out there for others to see”

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