Errant Taliban tweet exposes spokesman’s location

An Afghan security guard stands at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. Two suicide bombers in the Afghan capital targeted two buses carrying Afghan army troops on Wednesday, killing several people and wounding over a dozen others, police said. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)

KABUL, Afghanistan— An apparently errant tweet by the Taliban’s spokesman in Afghanistan gave his location as being in neighboring Pakistan.

On Friday, a tweet by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claiming an attack included geolocation information that suggested he sent the message from Sindh, Pakistan.

Mujahid later sent a tweet Saturday describing the location leak as an “enemy plot.” He also offered his Afghan telephone number to confirm his identity and wrote: “With full confidence, I can say that I am in my own country.”

Twitter says such geolocation data is based on latitude and longitude data or other information provided by users at the time of their message.

In an explanation of geolocation, Twitter itself warns: “Remember, once you post something online, it’s out there for others to see.”