Deputy leader of Taliban faction sustains ‘serious’ injuries in skirmish

Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, deputy head of the Taliban splinter group in the western part of the country, was badly injured in a skirmish in Herat province, sources said.

Provincial officials told Ariana News that Niazi was wounded in a skirmish with Taliban militants in the Guzara district of the province.

The sources stated that Niazi, who reportedly is a pro-Taliban commander, is currently hospitalized in Herat’s public hospital.

According to the sources, three of Niazi’s bodyguards were killed in the skirmish.

The Taliban has not commented in this regard.

Niazi was believed to have been Mullah Mohammad Rasool’s deputy – the head of the faction that split from the Taliban in November 2015, following the announcement in July that year that the Taliban’s longtime leader Mullah Omar was dead.

The dissident faction’s announcement was at the time believed to be the first public and official split of the Afghan Taliban since the group formed in the 1990s.

Omar’s deputy at the time was Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, who claimed power — sparking a battle over the group’s leadership.

Rasool and Niazi were among several Taliban commanders who challenged Mansoor’s appointment as leader. Mansoor was leader of the group from 29 July 2015 to 21 May 2016 but was killed in a drone strike by the United States in Pakistan.

Niazi was born 1968 in Pashtoon Zarghoon district, in Herat province and served as governor of Kabul Province under the Taliban regime.