Fact-Check: Is Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar dead?

For the last 2-3 days the news of Taliban’s new Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar went viral particularly in India and Pakistan. According to a hoard of handles, Baradar was allegedly killed either by COVID-19 or in a bomb attack on Monday.

The news was spread massively in Indian and Pakistani circles. An image of Baradar with the headline and Al-Jazeera’s logo was also circulated along with this claim .

# Aljazira:

According to a Taliban spokesman, Mullah Baradar, the Taliban deputy prime minister, was killed in an inter-team confrontation over the selection of cabinet members.

The accuracy of this news has not been confirmed by other official sources from the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/F4aY7TiXDT
— Hanif Rezaie (@hanifR77360437) September 13, 2021

Image posted by an user

Mullah Baradar has allegedly just been killed by forces loyal to Anas Haqqani. This comes a week after Baradar and Haqqani factions engaged in a power struggle leading to Baradar's demotion from PM to Deputy PM. #Afghanistan #Taliban pic.twitter.com/HXnVKC1gd1
— Panjshir Observer (@PanjshirObserv) September 12, 2021

Claim posted by Panjshir Observer

Similar claim was posted by hundred of handles

Fact-Check :

Upon trying to look for this claim on Al Jazeera’s website, we could not find any such news there.

***No such news on Al Jazeera’s website or social media handles***

This claim was then addressed by the Taliban themselves when they themselves issued a statement that this is false news. Mullah Baradar himself released a statement calling this claim false.

Therefore, this claim is fake.

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Tags: Abdul Ghani Baradar Afghanistan Al Jazeera Alive Dead Deputy Prime MInister Fact Check Fake Fake news Misinformation Misleading Pakistan Social media Taliban Twitter