AFGHANISTAN: MULLAH OMAR IN PAKISTAN

Afghan leader: Mullah Omar in Pakistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press that Mullah Omar, the supreme Taliban leader who headed the repressive Islamist regime ousted by U.S.-led forces five years ago, is hiding in the southeastern Pakistani city of Quetta.

Despite U.S. efforts to ease acrimony between two key anti-terror allies, the Afghan leader in an interview late Monday also blamed neighboring Pakistan for a surge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan and demanded President Pervez Musharraf crack down on militant sanctuaries.

"We know he is in Quetta," Karzai said of the fugitive Omar, whose regime was toppled after the Sept. 11 attacks on America for giving sanctuary to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The U.S. government has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Omar's capture.


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1) Afghan leader: Mullah Omar in Pakistan