Mohammed Omar 'in northern Afghanistan'

Taliban leader Mohammed Omar is reported to be in northern Afghanistan, urging his troops to fight the Northern Alliance.

According to Iranian news agency IRNA, he is in Kunduz directing Taliban forces.

The report said the Taliban are preventing residents from leaving the province to use them as human shields against probable attacks by the Alliance or the US.

IRNA quoted the deputy ambassador of the Afghanistan Islamic government to Tajikistan, Mohyuddin Mahdi, saying details were not available but the "authenticity of the news (that Omar is in Kunduz) could be vouched".

Mahdi said Taliban troops were being directed by Omar.

There have been conflicting reports, with an Iranian radio station in the city of Mashhad reporting Omar and Osama bin Laden had crossed by road to an autonomous tribal area southwest of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, with the help of elements sympathetic to the Taliban.

"Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden have almost certainly fled Afghanistan to Manatiq e-azad in order to save their lives," the report broadcast in the Dari language said.