Afghan Taliban announce new leader

The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a United States drone strike.

In a statement, the Taliban acknowledged Mansour’s death for the first time and named his successor as Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada.

Little is known of the direction he will take the militants but analysts said he is an uncontroversial choice, the BBC reports.

Last year the group was plunged into turmoil when Mansour replaced the group’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Mansour was killed in a strike on his car in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday.

Under his stewardship the Taliban refused to take part in peace talks: instead, militant attacks escalated and became more daring.

Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious scholar and former head of the Taliban courts, was a deputy leader to Mansour.