Afghanistan: 5 killed as suicide bomber targets breakaway Taliban faction

Five people were killed and four other wounded after a suicide car bomber targeted a group of fighters from the splinter Taliban group led by Mullah Abdul Rasoul in Gereshk district in Helmand, Afghanistan on Wednesday.

"5 killed, 4 wounded in suicide bombing that targeted Taliban splinter-group in Gereshk District this morning," tweeted Tolo News.

Mullah Mohammad Rasool was chosen to lead the splinter group in November 2015 after it broke up from the parent group alleging that the new Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour hijacked the movement because of personal greed.

Mansour was appointed in late July after the Taliban admitted that Mullah Omar had been dead for two years.

The Rassol led faction is believed to be the first formal split in the Afghan Taliban since their emergence in the mid-1990s.

-ANI