At least eight people have been killed in a series of violent clashes between two rival Taliban factions in the troubled southern Afghanistan, local officials say.

Local Afghan security officials said on Monday that deadly clashes erupted between supporters of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour and followers of senior Taliban military commander Mullah Mansour Dadullah in the Khak-i-Afghan district of Zabul Province.

General Mirwais Noorzai, the police chief of Zabul province, confirmed that at least five Taliban militants were killed in the shoot-out.

Noorzai said at least three tribal elders who were trying to end the fighting between the adversaries were also killed in the fighting.

Mullah Mansour, who succeeded Mullah Omar as Taliban leader this summer, has sent hundreds of fighters on motorcycles in the past two weeks to Zabul province to battle forces loyal to Mullah Dadullah, who has publicly refused to pledge allegiance to the new leader.

Mullah Omar’s brother and son have already refused to pledge allegiance to the new leader.

The two rival factions have since been fighting with no clear end in sight.

Latest reports indicate that Afghan and Pakistani tribal elders have been working to resolve the situation for weeks in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, where much of the Taliban staff have been based for years.

Foreign troops and Afghan forces have failed to maintain security across Afghanistan nearly 14 years after the United States and its NATO allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.