Mullah Omar, the one-eyed Taliban leader who has eluded capture for three years, has been contacted by Afghan intelligence agents on a satellite phone carried by a captured aide. The brief conversation ended abruptly when Omar appeared to become suspicious and disconnected the call. He has ignored follow-up attempts to contact him.
| "What the heck is wrong with the sat phone, Mahmoud? Everytime I try to call Omar I get a busy signal!" |
Omar, who recently told an interviewer that al-Qa’eda and Taliban figures maintained communication by "traditional" means, is believed to change his whereabouts frequently.
| He also changes glass eyes frequently just to fool onlookers. |
Abdullah Laghmanai, the intelligence chief in the southern province of Kandahar, said contact was made after agents seized two senior Taliban commanders on Tuesday. Omar’s number and those of other leading members of his former regime were contained in the phone taken from one of the aides, Mullah Mujahed. When Mujahed was ordered to speak to his boss, he said: "Salam-aleikum [Peace be upon you], where are you?" "He realised it was not his man [and] cut off the phone," said Mr Laghmanai.
| "Did you order the large with sausage and extra goat cheese?" |
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