The Taliban yesterday confirmed the death of their leader Mullah Omar and elected his deputy to replace him, two militant commanders said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Pakistan yesterday said peace talks it was due to hold between the Afghan government and the Taliban today have been postponed. The Foreign Ministry said this was at the Taliban's request due to uncertainty over Mullah Omar's death.

The death of Mullah Omar - reported by the Afghan government on Wednesday - was confirmed by the Taliban yesterday, report Reuters and BBC.

"The leadership of the Islamic Emirate and the family of Mullah Omar... announce that leader Mullah Omar died due to a sickness," a Taliban statement said, using the movement's official name.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was appointed leader at a meeting of the Taliban's top representatives, many of whom are based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, according to the sources who were present at the shura, or gathering.

"The shura held outside Quetta unanimously elected Mullah Mansour as the new emir of the Taliban," said one commander at the Wednesday night meeting.

"The shura will release a statement shortly."

Siraj Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani militant faction, will be a deputy to Mansour, both commanders added.

But AFP reported that the militants are yet to choose a leader.

Militant sources have told AFP that Mansour is leading the race to take over, but stressed that no final decision has been taken yet.

A Taliban official said the process had several stages: the group's ruling council would choose a candidate who must then be approved by a college of religious clerics.

Omar's son Mullah Yakoub was favoured by some commanders, sources said, but at 26 he was considered too young and inexperienced for such a key role.

If elected, Mansour will be only the second leader the Taliban have had since Omar, an elusive figure rarely seen in public who founded the ultra-conservative Islamist movement in the 1990s.

The Taliban eventually conquered most of Afghanistan, imposing strict Islamic law before being driven from power in 2001 by a US-led military intervention.

The Afghan government said on Wednesday that Omar died more than two years ago in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

"We are aware of the reports and trying to ascertain the details," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said.

The announcement threw into disarray a fledgling peace process fostered by neighbouring Paksitan aimed at ending more than 13 years of war between the hardline Islamist Taliban and the Western-backed Afghan government in Kabul.

The two Taliban commanders did not directly confirm Mullah Omar's death, but one said: "If we are electing a new leader to head the movement, you can yourself understand what that implies".

The Taliban's official spokesman said in a statement early yesterday that its official team of negotiators based in Doha was "not aware of this process" in Pakistan.

Later in the day, the Pakistani foreign office said a planned second round of meetings set for today would be delayed at the request of the Taliban leadership. The two sides held inaugural talks in Pakistan earlier this month.

Mansour's appointment is unlikely to please everyone in the Taliban. Key field commanders have criticised the peace process and vowed to fight for power, rather than negotiate it.

Omar's death marks a significant blow to the Taliban, which is riven by internal divisions and threatened by the rise of the Islamic State group, the Middle East jihadist outfit that is making steady inroads in Afghanistan.