I have not been captured, says 'Taliban's Dadullah'

Spin Boldak (Afghanistan), May 20: A man claiming to be Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said by telephone a report he had been captured in Afghanistan was untrue and he vowed to fight on against Afghan and foreign troops.

The man telephoned a Reuters reporter late on Friday, hours after the BBC reported the capture of Dadullah, one of the Taliban's top commanders, after heavy clashes in the southern province of Kandahar.

''I am Mullah Dadullah. The reports about my arrest are not only false but a pack of blatant lies,'' said the man, who sounded like Dadullah.

''The Americans and their slaves are trying to boost the morale of their troops by spreading false rumours,'' the man said. The Taliban refer to the Afghan government as slaves of the United States.

The one-legged Dadullah is a member of the Taliban's 10-man leadership council and is regarded as close to the fugitive top leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

His capture would be a major coup for U.S. and NATO forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai, who came to power after the Taliban were overthrown in late 2001.

In the past there have been several erroneous reports that he had been captured or surrounded.

The governor of Kandahar province, Assadullah Khalid, told a news conference on Friday that three senior Taliban members had been captured in fighting this week but he declined to identify them or say if Dadullah was among them.

The Afghan army commander in the south, General Rahmatullah Raufi, said a seriously wounded militant with only one leg had been captured.

''We can't say for sure it is Mullah Dadullah. Mullah Dadullah has only one leg and this guy has only one leg, but we suspect it's him,'' Raufi told Reuters.

The U.S. military has not confirmed Dadullah's capture.

A Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, said Dadullah had not been captured. He said he had spoken to Dadullah several times since the report of his capture.

'Jihad will continue'

The man claiming to be Dadullah said the Taliban's jihad, or holy war, would continue and he dismissed the report that three senior Taliban had been captured.

''I am conducting jihad with other Taliban mujahideen (holy warriors) for the liberation of my country from the occupying infidels,'' he said, referring to U.S. and other foreign troops.

''Jihad will continue against the infidels and their agents.'' The man declined to say where he was speaking from, only saying he did not stay in any one place for long.

''No senior Taliban leaders were arrested in southern Afghanistan. If anyone was arrested, they might be ordinary Taliban,'' he said.

''Taliban mujahideen are strong and they have made it difficult for the infidels to stay in Afghanistan,'' he said.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks on foreign and government forces in recent months as thousands more NATO peacekeepers arrive in the country.

Foreign commanders say the Taliban want to sap domestic support for the deployments, which will push the number of foreign troops to nearly 40,000, the most since 2001.

About 100 people, most of them militants, were killed in violence on Wednesday and Thursday in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, and in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul.

Reuters