(Image Source: BBC)
 

BY MAURICE SCARBOROUGH

ANCHOR JIM FLINK

Mystery surrounds Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after reports he was killed while leaving the Pakistani city of Quetta. Now government and media agencies all over the world are trying to confirm the news of his death.

“Off the record, the Afghan Intelligence officials, The NDS - National Directors of Security, have said that he’s dead. They are not able to confirm who has killed him, or where exactly he was killed, but they are saying at this point in time, that they will hold a press conference to substantiate those claims. We’ll have to wait and see if that actually happens.”   

According to the New York Post - Afghan defense sources said Omar was killed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelliegence Agency, while another source said Mullah Omar has been out of the public eye for 11 days, but may still be alive.

Amidst the confusion, Pakistan’s Interior Minister said he had no information on Omar’s killing.

“There has been no report available to us about any operation that has happened in Pakistan. If Mullah Omar has been killed in Afghanistan, it is up to the Afghan authorities to confirm or deny...”

Since rumors of his death have surfaced, the Taliban has issued a statement denying reports. One spokesman said Omar was alive and well, and was directing the groups military forces through Afghanistan.

News X also got the opportunity to speak with former ISI chief Hamid Gul who says news of Omar’s death is just the latest lie fabricated by the U.S. Government.

“This is even a bigger lie than the purported killing of Osama in Abbottabad. They have to end the war, for heavens sake try and understand Americans are cheats, they carry out deception maneuvers and this is what they are doing.”

And while no one has been able to confirm or deny his death, a writer for the BBC says it may actually be in the U.S.’s best interest if the rumors were false.

“The US is now involved in secret peace talks with the Taliban and … both the CIA and the ISI are anxious to keep Mullah Omar alive. Mullah Omar’s blessing would be needed at the conclusion of any peace deal so that more hardline Taliban commanders would be forced to accept the terms of any agreement and not go off to join al-Qaeda or other rejectionists.”