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BY MEGAN NOE
ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

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The Taliban denies reports that its leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is dead-- and blames U.S. intelligence for the rumors.

The Telegraph explains-- reporters received text messages from accounts used by the Taliban spokesman.

“The message...said: ‘Leadership council of IEA (Islamic emirate of Afghanistan) announces that Ameer-ul-Mumineen (Mullah Omar) has passed away. May mighty God bless him.’ [Taliban spokespersons]...denied the death when contacted by phone and blamed ‘Americans’ and ‘foreigners’ for hacking their website and phones.”

KABC says its the second such report in two months.

“Its not the first time, though, speculation of Omar’s death has surfaced. In May, the Taliban also denied reports it’s leader was dead. Meantime, NATO says it has no knowledge of Omar’s condition nor whereabouts.”

The Taliban leader hasn’t been seen in some time, but CNN reports that’s not unusual-- he regularly avoids photos, TV cameras, and interviews.

“Now Mullah Omar, it’s important to note, that this reclusive and very much elusive Afghan Taliban leader has been such even prior to the 2001 U.S.-led war against this country. He’s believed to be hiding somewhere between the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan in Quetta and then there’s been all sort of different accusations, rumors swirling around this story, around his whereabouts. It really underscores some of the difficulty of reporting in this region.”

And as The LA Times notes, the Taliban is no stranger to cyber-warfare -- and for awhile has used technology to connect with journalists daily.

“There is a Taliban website in English and Pashto (pash-toe); the group is also on Twitter and recently began tweeting in English. In recent years, speedy Taliban announcements of attacks against NATO forces and Afghan government targets prodded the Western military into a more aggressive public-relations stance, utilizing Facebook and other social media.”

Reports indicate the Taliban’s equivalent of an IT team is investigating the attack.

Transcript by Newsy.