Taliban leader 'surrounded'

An Afghan intelligence chief is claiming Taliban leader Mohammed Omar is surrounded in a mountain village.

Omar fled his Kandahar spiritual base with 1,500 fighters when Afghanistan fell to opposition forces backed by US air power.

Washington officials insist no deal has been offered to the most wanted man after Osama bin Laden.

Nasrat Ullah, an aide to Kandahar intelligence chief Haji Gulalai, says negotiations for Omar's surrender are continuing.

"The village where Omar is, is surrounded," said Gulalai who did not identify the village.

Afghanistan's interim Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah also says Omar is surrounded near Baghran.

"That situation will be made clear tomorrow or the day after," he said after the official signing ceremony for an agreement on how international peacekeepers will operate.

If Omar doesn't agree to surrender, the Baghran region in the mountains north of Kandahar where he is believed to be hiding, faces possible bombing by US warplanes.

Deputy Intelligence Minister Abdullah Tawheedi said the majority of fugitive al-Qaida fighters are in the eastern town of Khost and the province of Paktia.

"We think they number about 1,000 but they are spread into groups of 50 to 100. They will either be captured by Afghan forces or hit by US bombing. The war for the military is over, and I think al-Qaida will be routed in one month."