Rival Taliban groups battle each other in Afghanistan

Taliban insurgents loyal to rival leaders have been fighting in a south-eastern province of Afghanistan, where about 50 men on both sides have been killed in two days, an Afghan official said on Sunday.

Fighters in a breakaway faction led by Mullah Mohammad Rasool have been joined by ISIS militants, according to Mohmand Nostrayar, governor of the Arghandab district of Zabul province.

Rasool was elected “supreme leader” of the Taliban last week by a faction that does not support Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who assumed power after the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar. The Afghan government announced in July that Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, precipitating a leadership crisis in the group that has waged a 14-year insurgency against Afghan and US-led forces.

Analysts have long pointed to divisions within the Taliban, but this is the first time a rivalry has burst into the open. It is unclear how much support there is for Rasool. A Taliban commander said Rasool’s faction had joined forces with ISIS gunmen because it didn’t have the numbers otherwise.