4:45 pm
Deposed Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar may have been arrested, an Afghan minister claimed today.
Although in Washington, the Pentagon said it had nothing to support the report, which was sparked by the comments of Amin Farhang, the Afghan minister for reconstruction, who told German ARD TV news
he believed Mullah Omar had been detained, but had no more information.
"I have heard that he was arrested but more I do not know," Mr Farhang said.
Farhang was a member of the Rome delegation backing former Afghan King Zahir Shah at the Bonn peace talks last month that forged the interim government.
A former resident of Germany, Farhang gave the interview in German.
Mullah Omar was earlier reported to be surrounded in his mountain hideout near Baghran in Helmand province, about 160 kilometres north-west of Kandahar.
He has not been seen since the fall of the southern city of Kandahar on December 7 last year.
Meanwhile, the BBC website reported today that Afghan tribal leaders are currently negotiating the handover of the reclusive cleric.
Kandahar's tribal leaders, who are known to be sick of the relentless US bombing, said they had sent word to people sheltering Mullah Omar that they wanted him handed over without further fighting.
"We are still waiting to hear... about our demands," Nasratullah, a spokesman for Kandahar intelligence chief Haji Gullalai.
"Basically, we have told them clearly that we want the issue to be resolved without bloodshed and it is their decision how they want to respond," he said.
Washington holds Mullah Omar responsible for providing Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network with a safe haven from which to carry out its operations against US and other targets.
- REUTERS, HERALD ONLINE STAFF
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