Taleban chief says brother to replace Dadullah
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The leader of Afghanistan’s Taleban militia acknowledged Monday that top military commander Mullah Dadullah had been killed and said the slain rebel’s brother would succeed him.
The Taleban’s leadership council led by Mullah Mohammad Omar has appointed Dadullah’s younger brother, Mullah Bakht Mohammad, to take his place, a spokesman said.
Omar, who has a 10 million US dollar bounty on his head, said there were a thousand fighters ready to avenge the commander, according to a statement read by another Taleban spokesman.
“This is not going to slow down the Taleban jihad (holy war),” spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone.
The insurgent group had initially rejected the government’s announcement Sunday that Dadullah, one of the fiercest leaders of the Taleban insurgency, was killed in battle in southern Afghanistan.
Ahmadi said Monday that Omar and the Taleban leadership council offered their condolences to the family of Dadullah, “his mujahedin (holy warriors), the Muslims of Afghanistan and the Muslims of the world.”
At the same time, the Taleban congratulated Afghanistan on his ”martyrdom,” Ahmadi said.
“There are hundreds and thousands of mujahedin who have fought under Dadullah and there are hundreds and thousands of mujahedin who are able to replace Mullah Dadullah very well.”
Ahmadi said the one-legged commander, who was aged about 40, had fought long and hard before he was finally killed.
“Mullah Dadullah had resisted and fought for a full day, 24 hours, against NATO and Afghan troops and then he was martyred,” the spokesman said.
“The first day after his martyrdom they did not know that it was Dadullah. After that they realised.”
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a renegade warlord who leads a separate insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, also expressed condolences over Dadullah’s killing, a spokesman told AFP over the phone from an undisclosed location.
The Afghan government showed journalists the body of the commander on Sunday to prove that they had the right man. Officials said Sunday his body would be brought to Kabul, but on Monday they said it not would travel to the capital.
The Taleban’s Ahmadi threatened reprisals if Dadullah’s body was not returned.
“If the government doesn’t hand over the body of Mullah Dadullah with respect we’ll be giving the same treatment to the bodies of government troops and members we might capture in future,” he said.
The head of the Taliban, , has declared that "his same type of " will not cease.  Furthermore, the demise of  "won't create problems for the Taliban's jihad."

The statement was read to the Associated Press by , who claims to speak for the Taliban.

Mullah Omar took on the title  in 1996 and was the head of state of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

The leadership council of the Taliban has appointed Mullah Bakht Mohammad to replace Mullah Dadullah.  Mullah Bakht Mohammad is the younger brother of the deceased Mullah Dadullah.

Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban, stated that the Taliban offered condolences to Mullah Dadullah's family and "his  (holy warriors), the Muslims of Afghanistan and the Muslims of the world."  Dadullah has been hailed as a martyr by the Taliban and their followers.