Pakistan

Top Taliban spokesman captured in Mohmand

Article published on the 2009-08-18 Latest update 2009-08-18 10:23 TU

A policeman examines a vehicle at the site of an explosion in Charssada, 160 km from Pakistan's capital Islamabad, on 17 August, 2009. Six people were killed in the attack, which the Taliban claimed responsibility for.
(Photo: Reuters/Ali Imam)

Pakistani security forces have captured prominent Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar.

Officials said that Omar was arrested by a local tribal militia in the northwest tribal district of Mohmand.

Javed Ali Khan, a local government official in Mohmand, said that militia members stopped Omar and two other people as they travelled in a car late on Monday. They then handed them over to security forces.

The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) member was detained just weeks after the group’s leader Baitullah Mehsud was reportedly killed.

A former perfume seller who joined the Taliban in 2004, Omar was a close aide of Mehsud. He became the insurgent group’s spokesman in 2007 and regularly called reporters to claim responsibility for attacks. Residents and officials in the area said his real name was Sayed Mohammad.

Mehsud was reported to be killed in a US drone missile strike in South Waziristan. The Taliban denied the report and said that their leader is “a bit sick”.