Afghan intelligence says Mullah Omar ‘vanished’, Taliban claim he’s alive

Media reports say Omar was killed by the ISI when he was being transported from Quetta to Waziristan by the agency.

KANDAHAR:

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said on Monday that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had disappeared from his ‘Pakistani hideout’ but did not confirm a claim, fiercely denied by the militants, that he was dead.

Reclusive Omar – who has a $10 million bounty on his head from the US and is a talismanic figure for insurgents in the 10-year war against foreign and Afghan troops – is said to have vanished up to five days ago.

“We can confirm that he has been disappeared from his hideout in Quetta, Balochistan,” said Lutfullah Mashal, spokesman for the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

“He has been disappeared from his location during the last four to five days,” he added. “So far we cannot confirm the killing of Mullah Omar officially.”

Mashal’s comments came hours after an Afghan intelligence source called a handful of reporters to tell them on condition of anonymity that Omar had been killed in Pakistan by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

A separate intelligence source later told AFP that he had been missing for 11 days.

The Taliban have furiously denied that he is dead or missing.

Speaking to AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the news was “pure propaganda”. His Pakistani counterpart Ehsanullah Ehsan said it “has been spread to weaken the Taliban.”

The claims came exactly three weeks after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan and amid a fierce wave of targeted attacks as the Taliban’s spring offensive gets under way.

It was not immediately clear exactly how Afghanistan would have such detail on Omar’s movements, although  Mashal said the information came from “our sources and senior Taliban commanders.”

The first Afghan source said that Omar had been killed on Friday, citing information received from sources within the Haqqani network.

“Based on ISI instruction” through former ISI chief Hamid Gul, Mullah Omar was told to move from Quetta to North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan, the source said. “As Mullah Omar was being transported from Quetta to North Waziristan by the ISI, he was secretly killed by the ISI.”

However, a second Afghan intelligence source said Omar had been missing for 11 days following a meeting with Gul.

“It has been 11 days since his close circle, the people around him, have no clue of his whereabouts. The Taliban leadership are all concerned and worried over the sudden disappearance of Mullah Omar,” the source said.

Gul described the claims by the sources as “totally false”. “I never met Mullah Omar, not even once in my life,” he told AFP. “This has been fed by the Indian lobby to defame Pakistan and me. I don’t think he is in Pakistan. He never came into Pakistan, even during the Soviet war (in Afghanistan).”

A Pakistani military official termed the report “baseless and false”. “We are not surprised by such concocted stories…..this is just to put pressure on Pakistan,” the official told The Express Tribune requesting anonymity.

However, civilian authorities were more cautious in their reaction. The Foreign Office spokesperson said that they have no information on reports concerning the reported death of Mullah Omar.

“The foreign secretary (Salman Bashir) was asked this question by the Afghan media and he also said that he is not in a position to verify this,” Tehmina Janjua told The Express Tribune by phone from Kabul.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik also offered similar reaction while talking to reporters in Karachi. “There has been no report available to us about any operation that has happened in Pakistan. If Mullah Omar has been killed in Afghanistan, it is up to the Afghan authorities to confirm or deny,” he said.

Security analysts also appear to have little faith in the report. “I would be really surprised if he (Omar) was hiding in Pakistan and travelling from Quetta to North Waziristan,” said Rustam Shah Mohmand, who has served in Kabul as Pakistan’s ambassador.

“It could be an attempt by certain elements in the Afghan administration and other regional players to minimise the central role of Pakistan in any future settlement of Afghanistan,” he added. (AFP with additional reporting by Kamran Yousuf in Islamabad)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2011.

>Malik said the terrorists were wearing “western clothes, had small beards and three of them had sharp features”.

 

He said two of the attackers look to be around 22 years of age and one of the suicide bombers was around 25 years of age. He said they were dressed in black clothes “like they do in movies”.

‘They were dressed like Star Wars characters,’ said Malik.

The post-mortem of the all the terrorists killed during the operation has been carried out. Their bodies, under tight security, were taken to Civil Hospital Karachi on Monday night where doctors conducted all legal formalities.

“We have received four bodies,” a well-placed source at the hospital told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity. “The post-mortems have been conducted.” He said that two bodies were mutilated while two had multiple bullet wounds – appearing to have been shot with sub-machine guns.

Special tribute

“I want to pay special tribute to martyred Lieutenant Yasir, who gave up his life and saved valuable lives and assets,” Malik added.

He also acknowledged the services of the firemen and other security personnel who lost their lives.

“We are fighting a war against a cunning enemy,” said Malik, urging people to condemn those trying to destabilise Pakistan.

Joint investigation team formed

Malik said an investigation team led by the Pakistan Navy has been formed and will include members from the FIA, police, Rangers and other intelligence units.

Malik said that team has been asked to file a report as soon as possible. He added that terrorists were planning attacks on sensitive installations and army institutions, and that names of several officials who they were planning on attacking had come forward.

The interior minister said there was a chance the terrorists might carry out another operation.

The aftermath

Meanwhile, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir said on Monday that installations of Pakistan Navy were being relocated to a safer place away from residential areas.

“We are trying to relocate the naval base and other vital installations away from residential areas,” he told a news conference in Karachi.

He said the effective security of naval installations is becoming difficult due to crowded residential areas around the Mehran base.

“When these installations were planned and built near Karsaz, they were away from the city, but with the fast growth of residential areas around the base, it has become in the centre.”

Additional input from agencies

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2011.