Taliban: Mullah Omar alive

The Taliban has said Mullah Omar is alive, accusing the Americans of hacking their phones after a text message sent to media from a spokesman's phone said the leader was dead.

Omar is the one-eyed spiritual leader of the insurgency who presided over the 1996-2001 Taliban regime in Kabul, which was toppled in a US-led invasion for its support of al-Qaida.

Violence is at a record high in the insurgency against the Kabul government and 150,000 US-led foreign troops, and US and Afghan officials are trying to reach out to insurgents to broker a political solution.

Washington has withdrawn 650 of 33,000 American troops due to go home by the end of summer next year and this week NATO is transferring security control to Afghans in seven areas, part of a country-wide process due to be completed in 2014.