"The Islamic Emirate's leadership council... decided to appoint Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate and Mawlawi Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob as his deputies," the statement reads.

Haqqani is the leader of Haqqani terror network, long aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda, and Yaqoob the son of former long-time Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Haqqani, who has a $10 million State Department bounty on his head, heads up a wide-ranging family-based network based primarily in North Waziristan, Pakistan. It held captured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl before he was repatriated in a prisoner swap.

Meanwhile, ten people were killed and four others were injured Wednesday morning when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in Kabul, Najib Danish, a deputy spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry tells CNN. Two children are among the injured.

The attack targeted a vehicle carrying court employees of neighboring Wardak Province, according to Danish.

There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

 
Pledge of allegiance

"All the members of the leadership council pledged allegiance to the newly appointed leader," the statement continues, allegiance to the new leader is "a religious obligation," it said.

The same statement confirmed the death of the previous leader, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's Balochistan province Saturday. It called on "all Muslims" to enter a three-day period of mourning for Mansour.

The Taliban had previously confirmed Mansour's death to CNN but today's announcement is the first public statement from the group to affirm the death. U.S. and Afghan intelligence agencies had also independently confirmed his demise. (CDN)