Afghanistan investigating reports of Taliban leader's death

The Afghan government is investigating reports of the death of Taliban supremo Mullah Omar, a presidential spokesman said on July 29, amid frenzied speculation about the rumoured demise of the reclusive warrior-cleric.

The insurgents have not officially confirmed the death of Mullah Omar, who has not been seen publicly since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban government in Kabul.
 
Rumours of his ill-health and even death have regularly surfaced in the past. The latest reports come just two days before a second round of peace talks between insurgents and the Afghan government is scheduled.
 
The announcement from spokesman Sayed Zafar Hashemi came after unnamed government and militant sources told media, including AFP, that the one-eyed leader died two or three years ago.
 
"We can confirm that Mullah Omar died two years ago... in Pakistan due to an illness," a separate official in Afghanistan's national unity government told AFP.
 
"He was buried in Zabul province (in southern Afghanistan)," said the senior official, citing Afghan intelligence sources.
 
Hashemi told a press conference: "We have seen reports in the media regarding the death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
 
"We are investigating these reports... and will comment once the accuracy of these reports are confirmed."  
If confirmed, Omar's death would mark a significant blow to an almost 14-year insurgency, which is riven by internal divisions and threatened by the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in South Asia.
         
The Taliban in April published a descriptive biography of the "charismatic" supreme leader, in a surprise move apparently aimed at countering...