Taliban confirm leader’s death; appoint successor

Kabul, May 24

The Afghan Taliban have named a deputy to former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour as their new leader, a spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday, the group's first official confirmation that Mansour was killed in a US drone strike.

Haibatullah Akhunzada, who was named in a United Nations report last year as the Taliban's former chief justice, is reported to be a respected religious scholar but little is known of his background.

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Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of a network blamed for many high-profile bombs attacks in Kabul in recent years, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, will serve as deputies, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's main spokesman, said in the statement.

"All people are required to obey the new Emir-al-Momineen (commander of the faithful)," the statement said.

The announcement, following a meeting of the Taliban's main shura or leadership council, ends three days of confusion during which the Islamist movement had provided no official reaction to the death of Mansour in a drone strike in Pakistan on Saturday.

Taliban claims Kabul attack

Ten people were killed and four wounded in a Taliban attack on a bus carrying staff from an appeal court in Kabul hours after the announcment.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack on staff from the judicial system was in response to the Afghan government's decision earlier this month to execute six Taliban prisoners on death row. Other attacks would follow, he said.

"We will continue on this path," he said in a statement.

The decision by President Ashraf Ghani to execute the prisoners on death row was taken as part of a tougher policy towards the Taliban following a suicide attack by the insurgent movement which killed at least 64 people in Kabul.

An interior ministry spokesman said 10 people had been killed and four wounded in Wednesday's attack, while the Taliban said 22 people had been killed or wounded.  

The Taliban have made big gains since NATO forces ended their main combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 and now control more of the country than at any time since they were ousted by US-led forces in 2001. — Reuters