Afghan Taliban confirms Mullah Omar's death

The Afghan Taliban on Thursday confirmed the death of their leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, one day after Afghan government announced his demise, the outfit said in a statement without saying when and where Omar passed away. "Leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name of the ousted Taliban regime) and the family of late Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid...today announced that Amir al-Muminin (Commander of the Faithful) Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid has passed away due to illness," the Taliban statement issued here late on Thursday reads. The statement did not provide details about the successor of the former Taliban leader Omar. Omar's brother Mullah Abdul Manan Akhond and elder son of Omar Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoub urged the Muslims to pray for the soul of the late Taliban leader. Omar's date of birth and the exact place of birth are uncertain, but according to most sources, he was born sometime between 1955 and 1962 possibly in Nodeh, a village in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province. Omar, who established the Taliban Movement in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province in 1994 and announced his Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan after capturing Kabul in 1996, has been leading a bloody insurgency since the collapse of Taliban regime in 2001 to re-establish his fanatic Islamic Emirate in the war- torn central Asian country. The statement came amid reports that the second round of peace talks between Taliban representatives and the Afghanistan government has been postponed. The first round of face-to-face talks between the two sides was held in Pakistan earlier this month and the second round was expected to be held probably in Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday, July 31. The postponement was requested by the Taliban leadership, citing the uncertainty caused by Omar's death as the reasons, according to a press release issued by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Thursday afternoon.