Taliban denies reports of Mullah Omar's death
A spokesman says the fugitive Taliban leader is alive in Afghanistan. There is no confirmation of reports by several media outlets that he died in Pakistan.
A Taliban spokesman on Monday vehemently denied a swirl of rumors that the movement's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had died or been killed.
The spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said by telephone that Omar -- the one-eyed, self-declared "commander of the faithful" who has long been thought to be hiding in Pakistan -- was alive and well in Afghanistan, directing the group's military campaign.
Nonetheless, the wildfire-like spread of the reports -- aided by social media such as Twitter -- reflected the intense degree of speculation surrounding Omar's fate, which has dramatically heightened since Navy SEALs killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden three weeks earlier in his Pakistan hideout.
A spokesman for Afghanistan's main intelligence service, Lutfullah Mashal, told the Associated Press that he had information that Omar had been moved from Pakistan's Baluchistan province -- the seat of the Taliban leadership council known as the Quetta shura -- to the North Waziristan tribal agency, with the knowledge of former Pakistani intelligence chief Hamid Gul. The news service said Gul denied the allegation.
Afghanistan's Tolo television took it [...]
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