KABUL, 9 July 2004 — Afghan intelligence agents have spoken with fugitive Taleban founder Mulla Mohammed Omar after commandeering a satellite phone being used by his top aide, an Afghan official claimed yesterday.
Mulla Omar, along with Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, has escaped a US-led dragnet which now numbers some 20,000 coalition soldiers since the ousting of his fundamentalist regime in late 2001.
A man believed to be Omar’s aide, Mulla Sakhi Dad Mujahid, was captured Tuesday while carrying a satellite telephone containing the phone numbers of top members of the ousted regime, Kandahar intelligence chief Abdullah Laghmanai told AFP.
“We contacted Mulla Omar by Mulla Mujahid’s phone,” he said, adding that at first Mujahid was forced to talk to his boss on the phone. “But when he (Omar) realized the situation ... he cut off the phone.”
“Salam-alaikum (peace on you), where are you?” Mulla Omar asked Mujahid, according to Laghmanai who did not say when the call was made. Mujahid was arrested Tuesday during a raid in Dara-e-Noor, some 70 kilometers north of southern Kandahar city.
The area is in the rugged border area between south-central Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces and known to US military officials as the “Taleban heartland.”
Mujahid served as Mulla Omar’s secretary under the Taleban’s 1996-2001 rule, according to Laghmanai.
“Currently he was serving as Mulla Omar’s military assistant,” he said.
Kandahar military spokesman Gen. Abdul Wasay confirmed the arrest of the senior Taleban official. “The arrest of Mulla Mujahid will pacify Taleban’s activities in the area,” where he was captured, he told AFP, without elaborating on further details.
Mujahid was Wednesday transferred in handcuffs to Kabul for further investigations which authorities hope could lead to the arrest of other militants, including Omar. “Once the investigation is done, we hope to capture Mulla Omar, if not, at least we would get close to capturing him,” an intelligence official preparing to carry out the interrogation in Kabul said.
Meanwhile, Afghan officials have arrested three foreigners, including an American, who were allegedly conducting a private war on terror in Kabul.
“Three foreigners who had formed a self-made group and were claiming their aims were to act against those carrying out terrorist attacks, have been arrested,” Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said.
Four Afghans were also arrested along with the foreigners for allegedly illegally holding eight people in a private jail in a house near the Intercontinental Hotel in west Kabul, he said. “They did not have any legal connection with anyone and the United States was also chasing them,” Jalali said. “They are actually rebels.”
An election worker was killed in a blast yesterday in continued violence in Afghanistan as the country’s electoral commission prepared to announce dates for post-Taleban presidential and parliamentary polls. The landmark poll were originally scheduled for June but were postponed for logistical reasons amid threats by remnants of the Taleban.
