Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and a band of diehard fighters blazed their way out of Kandahar on Friday and are hiding in nearby mountains, a Pakistani newspaper claimed today.
The Newsdaily quoted Taliban sources as saying Omar's forces engaged in a fierce gunbattle with fighters loyal to Afghan leader-in-waiting Hamid Karzai before leaving Kandahar in a convoy of vehicles on Friday evening.
Desperate attempts by Karzai's fighters to halt the convoy failed, the report said, cautioning that there had been no independent confirmation.
A Taliban source told AFPyesterday that Omar had "definitely" left Kandahar following the militia's surrender of its former bastion.
"I can confirm it to you that he is no longer in Kandahar. He is out of Kandahar," the Taliban official said in Pakistan on condition of anonymity.
"I have checked it with my people and they have told me that he is in no one's custody. He is not in Kandahar. Beyond this I do not know his whereabouts."
The official's claims could not be independently confirmed but there has been no sign of Omar since the Taliban agreed Thursday to hand over power in Kandahar to local Pashtun tribal leaders.
The official said Omar had not personally taken part in negotiations with Karzai that led to the surrender, under which the Taliban agreed to disarm in return for an amnesty for common soldiers but not for Omar himself.
Omar is wanted by the United States for harbouring Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks on US cities which killed more than 3,000 people.
With the fall of the Taliban, the US-led coalition against terrorism has intensified its search for Omar and bin Laden.
US Marines carrying photographs of wanted bin Laden associates are searching the deserts around Kandahar, while special forces teams are scouring the eastern Tora Bora mountains near the Pakistani border.
AFP