Taliban names Haibatullah Akhunzada its new leader

The Afghan Taliban has named a new leader following the death of the former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

Haibatullah Akhunzada was named following a meeting of the Taliban’s leadership council.

He will replace former chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed along with his driver in a US drone strike over the weekend.

The two had just crossed the border from Iran into Pakistan.

Some Taliban members believe Mansour may have been traced and later killed because a photo was shared after he became leader last year.

Taliban leader Mansour killed in US drone strike https://t.co/IDBPwQiIlA pic.twitter.com/Cg1VttgL1W

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Akhundzada served as a judge during the Taliban regime and was made shadow chief justice after the group was routed by the U.S. invasion in 2001.

Akhundzada, who Taliban sources say is around 60 years old, has issued religious edicts or “fatwas” justifying terrorist attacks against U.S. troops.

Meanwhile the Taliban says it was behind a suicide attack that killed at least ten people on a bus carrying workers from an appeal court west of the Afghan capital Kabul.