Afghan intelligence agents have spoken with fugitive Taleban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar after commandeering a satellite phone being used by his top aide, an Afghan official claimed on Thursday.
Mullah 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 regime in late 2001.
A man believed to be Omar's aide, Mullah 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 Mullah Omar by Mullah Mujahid's phone," he said, adding that at first Mujahid was forced to talk to his boss on the phone.
"But when he (Omar) realised the situation ... he cut off the phone."
"Salam-aleikum (Peace on you), where are you?" Mullah Omar asked Mujahid, according to Laghmanai who did not say when the call was made.
Mullah Mujahid, as he is known locally, was arrested Tuesday during a raid in Dara-i-Noor, some 70 kilometre's (43 miles) north of southern Kandahar city.
Mujahid served as Mullah Omar's secretary under the Taleban's 1996-2001 rule, according to Laghmanai.
"Currently he was serving as Mullah Omar's military assistant," he said.
Kandahar military spokesman General Abdul Wasay confirmed the arrest of the senior Taleban official.
"The arrest of Mullah Mujahid will pacify Taleban's activities in the area," where he was captured, he told AFP, without elaborating on further details.
Meanwhile, Afghan officials have arrested three foreigners, including an American, who were allegedly conducting a private war on terror in Kabul.
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.
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