Afghan Officials Say Taliban Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is Dead, Taliban Denies Report

Afghan officials and an individual close to the Taliban claim that the group’s spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, for whom the United States had issued a $10 million bounty, is dead.

However, the Taliban immediately rejected the reports, a spokesman for the group telling Voice of America that Mullah Omar is “very much alive.” Afghan officials are currently investigating the claims.

Mullah Omar, who has not been seen in public since 2001, during the first months of the United States’ invasion into Afghanistan, has been reported to be dead before.

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Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and an expert on counterterrorism and al Qaeda, expressed doubt in the validity of the reports, listing multiple reasons on Twitter for which he remains suspicious of the news.

“Keep in mind that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has been circulated rumors of Mullah Omar’s supposed death on social media,” he wrote. “ I don’t know this to be the case, but you have to wonder if that is the ultimate source for the latest reports–disinfo spread by ISIS.”

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