Pakistan confirms Taliban 'number two' arrested
17th February 2010
Pakistan's military has confirmed a Taliban suspect captured earlier this month is one of the organisation's top leaders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. "Detailed identification procedures" had been completed, Pakistani army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said.
US and Pakistani agents had seized Mullah Baradar in Karachi on 8 February, US officials said on Tuesday.
But a Taliban spokesman has said Mullah Baradar, thought to be its second-in-command, is free and in Afghanistan.
Maj Gen Abbas's statement said Mullah Baradar had been one of several people detained in the same raid.
"The place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons," he added.
Getting tough
Mullah Baradar is said to have overseen military operations in Afghanistan, run the group's leadership council and controlled its finances.
The news of his arrest comes as Nato forces and Afghan troops conduct a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Helmand province, an area Mullah Baradar was believed to control.
His influence is said to be second only to that of the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullar Muhammad Omar, who has been hiding from Western agencies since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.
The arrest suggests Pakistan is getting tough with Afghan Taliban leaders sheltering there, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad, something that has long been a demand of the White House.
It could also put pressure on other Taliban leaders to enter into talks with the Afghan government and coalition forces, something Mullah Baradar was believed to favour, our correspondent says.
Afghan and Nato leaders have said reconciliation talks with more moderate Taliban members could be pursued to end the insurgency.
Meanwhile, missiles fired by a suspected US drone aircraft have killed at least three militants in north-west Pakistan, security officials say.
The attack targeted a compound in Tapi Tolkhel village, 15km (nine miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, by the Afghan border.
The regions of North and South Waziristan are known sanctuaries for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who move easily across the mountainous border into Afghanistan.
They are frequently targeted by drone attacks, and there have been more than a dozen such strikes in 2010 alone.
Source: BBC