Taliban leader believed to be in southern Afghanistan

The Taliban's supreme leader is reported to be holed up with hundreds of fighters west of Kandahar.

Mullah Mohammed Omar and his fighters are apparently in Baghran.

The town is in a mountainous area at the northern tip of Helmand province.

Anti-Taliban Intelligence chief Haji Gulalai says the report is based on "intelligence information".

Officials have previously said they knew the "general area" where Omar was, but would not identify it for what they called security reasons.

Omar, the one-eyed cleric who led the Taliban from its 1994 creation, fled Kandahar before the city fell to opposition forces on December 7, sparking intense speculation about his whereabouts.

Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, has vowed to bring Omar to justice, and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the US would offer a $10m reward for Omar's capture.