Kandahar Chief To Attack Omar

KABUL, Tuesday - Anti-Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan prepared yesterday to attack a mountain base where ousted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is believed to be hiding, a report said. Gul Agha, the newly-appointed governor of Kandahar, the Taliban’s former spiritual stronghold, told the BBC he had sent out search parties to track down Omar. He also said his forces had arrested up to 80 fighters belonging to the al-Qaeda organisation of Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Haji Gullalai, an intelligence chief in Kandahar, said he believed Omar was holed up with some 500 men in a mountain hideout, according to the report. Gullalai said his forces were preparing to attack the hideout, which is near the mountain village of Baghran in Helmand province, about 100 miles north of the southern city of Kandahar, the former Taliban stronghold. The US has offered a $10m reward for information leading to Omar’s capture. AFP Ends