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Mullah Omar Alive And In Afghanistan: Taliban
Mullah Omar Alive And In Afghanistan: Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban denied a report in the Afghan press that the insurgent group's leader had been killed in neighboring Pakistan, saying Monday that Mullah Mohammad Omar is alive and in Afghanistan.
"This is absolutely wrong. It's only propaganda and we completely deny these rumors," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a phone call. "He is inside Afghanistan and he is busy directing military operations with his commanders."
There has been much speculation that the U.S. might ramp up efforts to kill or capture the reclusive, one-eyed Taliban leader after the successful strike against Osama bin Laden. President Barack Obama has said he would order another covert military raid if it was necessary to stop terrorist attacks.
Attacks have increased in Afghanistan since bin Laden's death and since the start of the Taliban's yearly spring offensive. On Monday, four NATO service members were killed in an explosion in the east, NATO said in a statement. The military alliance did not provide details on the attack or the nationalities of the dead.
Most of those with knowledge of the Taliban organization say Omar is hiding in southern Pakistan, around Quetta or Karachi.
Afghan news channel Tolo quoted an anonymous Afghan intelligence official as saying Omar had been shot dead in Pakistan while being moved from Quetta to North Waziristan with the help of former Pakistani intelligence chief Gen. Hamid Gul.
North Waziristan is a tribal area home to militants whose primary focus is attacking U.S. and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.
A Pakistani intelligence official said that there was no information to suggest the report of Omar's death was true. He spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject. U.S. and NATO officials said they had heard the report from Tolo but had no information to confirm or deny it.
Gul told the AP that the story was false.
Mullah Omar Alive And In Afghanistan: Taliban