Taliban Kill Rebel Commander from Minority Hazara group 

On Wednesday the Taliban announced that they had killed a fugitive rebel commander, Mawlawi Mehdi, in a shootout close to the border with Iran.  

Mehdi was until recently a senior member of the Taliban and is a member of the minority Hazara ethnic group, who are predominantly Shiite. This in contrast to the Taliban who are strict Sunnis and are predominantly from the Pashtun ethnic group.  

Mehdi’s participation in the Taliban’s leadership was hailed by some as evidence that the Taliban had become a more open movement accepting of non-Pashtun Afghans. Reports suggest that Mehdi recently fell out with the Taliban’s leadership and launched a rebellion in central Afghanistan before being defeated by Taliban forces and fleeing towards Iran.