KABUL: The Afghan Taliban released an audio message on Saturday purportedly from leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, vehemently rejecting reports that he was killed in an internal firefight.

“There is no truth to the rumours that I was injured or killed in Kuchlak (near Quetta in Pakistan),” said the audio file, emailed to media by a Taliban spokesman.

Earlier in the day, the Taliban’s main spokesman said that he had received an audio statement from Mansour.

The statement on Twitter followed days of uncertainty over the fate of Mansour, after multiple reports said he had been badly wounded in the shootout at the home of another Taliban commander in Quetta late on Tuesday.

“A new message from the leader of Islamic Emirate, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour has just reached us. It will be released soon,” Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The Islamist group has repeatedly denied that Mansour had been hurt, dismissing the reports as “propaganda”. But there has so far been no direct statement from him.

Scepticism over the Taliban denials has been fuelled by the secrecy which surrounded the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar. He died in 2013 but this was not confirmed until two years later.

Mansour, the longtime number two in the Taliban, was formally named leader immediately after Mullah Omar’s death was confirmed.

However his authority has been rejected by some factions in the Taliban who have accused him of covering up Mullah Omar’s death and seizing power without proper authority.

Mansour was declared Taliban leader on July 31 after the insurgents confirmed the death of Omar, who led the Islamist movement for about two decades.

But splits immediately emerged in the group, with some top leaders refusing to pledge allegiance to Mansour, saying the process to select him was rushed and even biased.

Many were also unhappy that Omar’s death had been kept secret for two years — during which time annual Eid statements were issued in his name.

A breakaway faction of the Taliban led by Mullah Mohamed Rasool was formed in November, in the first formal division in the once-unified group.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official said that Mansour had been “very seriously injured” in what he described as a “heavy exchange of fire” at a gathering of militant commanders near Quetta.

An Afghan intelligence official and multiple insurgent sources close to Mansour’s group confirmed the account, adding that the gunfight on Tuesday left at least four Taliban members dead and several others wounded.

The shootout also threatens to derail a renewed regional push to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban.

Mansour is believed to be a proponent of talks with Afghan authorities, a deeply contentious issue that has prompted much rancour within hardline insurgent ranks.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2015