Afghanistan seeks to establish fate of 'injured' Taliban chief

Afghan officials scrambled Thursday to establish whether Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour was still alive, after sources said he was "critically" wounded in a firefight following a bitter argument with commanders in the divided militant movement.

It remains unclear whether Mansour survived the gunfight, which threatens to derail a renewed regional push to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban. 

The clash broke out just four months after Mansour was appointed Taliban leader in an acrimonious leadership succession soon after the group belatedly confirmed longtime chief Mullah Omar's death.

The Taliban officially rejected as "absolutely baseless" the reports of the firefight, which officials and militant sources said was triggered by an altercation at an insurgent gathering that cascaded out of control.

"We are trying to establish whether Mansour is dead or alive," said Sultan Faizi, the spokesman for the Afghan first vice president.

"His situation is critical," Faizi said, citing credible information.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official told AFP that Mansour had been "very seriously injured" in what he described as a "heavy exchange of fire" at a gathering of militant commanders near the Pakistani city of Quetta.

An Afghan intelligence official and multiple insurgent sources close to Mansour's group confirmed the account to AFP, adding that the gunfight left at least four Taliban members dead and several others wounded.

The firefight exposes deepening divisions within the fractious militant movement, which saw its first formal split last month after a breakaway faction surfaced.

The rifts increase the risk of internecine clashes within the Taliban, which has lately seen a new resurgence under Mansour even as it confronts the rise of the rival Islamic State group in Afghanistan. 

There was conflicting information on the location of the confrontation, with some sources claiming that it took place near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.

But they all agreed the meeting was at the home of Abdullah Sarhadi, a commander in Mansour's group and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.

"There were differences on some points which later turned into harsh words, then Sarhadi opened fire and the others returned fire," a Taliban source said. 

It was unclear what the argument was about.

Mansour is reported to be under growing pressure from Pakistani intelligence to restart peace talks with Afghan authorities, a contentious issue that has prompted much rancour within hardline insurgent ranks.