Rumours of Taliban leader’s death grow

AFGHANISTAN’S intelligence services said yesterday that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had “disappeared from his hideout” in Pakistan, but could not confirm that he had been killed, despite an earlier claim.

Omar, the one-eyed, reclusive leader of the militant Islamists, is said to have vanished up to five days ago.

“We can confirm that he has disappeared from his hideout in Quetta, [capital of the southwestern Pakistani province] Baluchistan,” said Lutfullah Mashal, spokesman for the National Directorate of Security.