almotamar.net google - ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is abuzz with the news that Mullah Obaidullah Akhud, described as a deputy to the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, has been arrested in the Balochistan capital Quetta, but the Government has yet to officially confirm the "high value" catch.
Mullah Obaidullah was the Defence Minister in Afghanistan's Taliban government that was ousted in the U.S. military action in 2001.
In an apparently unrelated incident, a bomb fixed to a bicycle went off near a court in Multan in Punjab province on Friday, killing three policemen and seriously injuring an anti-terrorism judge. Seven others were also wounded in the explosion.
The remote-controlled bomb went off when the judge's car passed the parked bicycle on its way to the court. The explosion killed the driver of the car and two policemen escorting the vehicle. The judge is in hospital battling serious injuries. His car was badly damaged in the blast. Most of the other injured persons were policemen.
Mullah Obaidullah is described as the Taliban's military commander, an important figure in the insurgency in Afghanistan. He is said to be one of three or four top Taliban leaders with direct access to Mullah Omar.
A report in the Dawn newspaper quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying Mullah Obaidullah was arrested on Monday, the day U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney was here on a brief visit for talks with President Pervez Musharraf. But the official said the arrest was not timed for the visit, and had been planned long before.
While the U.S. has praised Pakistan for its contribution to the war on terror, important figures in the Bush Administration, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have asserted in recent days that the Taliban is regrouping in Pakistan for a spring offensive in Afghanistan.
Two other Taliban leaders, Amir Khan Haqqani, commander in Zabul, and Abdul Bari, the former governor of Helmand province in Afghanistan, are also reported to have been arrested with Mullah Obaidullah.
Gen. Muhsarraf recently said that no Taliban leader of any significance was present in Pakistani territory, but the arrest, if confirmed, would prove that assertion wrong.Mullah Obaidullah would bethe senior-most Taliban leader to be arrested after 2001.
The United Arab Emirates acknowledged on Tuesday that two of its pilots were killed when their military aggression plane crashed over Jawf province, a military official said
The official added that the aggressive crashed plane was an apache that was
Artillery of the army and popular shelled a gathering of Saudi-paid mercenaries in al-Moqadra area in Serwah district of Marib province, a military official said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and others injured in Wadi al-Theek in the district, the official added.
The army and popular forces carried out on Monday unique military operations in Taiz province.
A military official said that a number of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed at the hands of the army and popular forces in al-Jazami Hill in al-Kadaha area in al-Ma'afer district.
A Saudi aggression fighter jet targeted a citizen's car driving in Fara area of Kutaf district in Saada province overnight, killing the driver and injuring his friend, a security official said on Monday.
The army artillery and popular committees launched a fierce attack on Saudi-paid mercenaries' sites in Jawf province, a military official said on Monday.
The attack destroyed a military vehicle belonging to the mercenaries and killed all on board in Sabran area in khab and shaaf district.
Scores of Saudi enemy soldiers were killed and injured on Sunday when the army and popular forces repelled a Saudi military attempt to sneak into Shurfah site in the border province of Najran, a military official said.
The operation was accomplished successfully against the Saudi
The army and popular committees have killed a total of 18 Saudi-paid mercenaries in sniper operations over the past hours in the central province of Marib, a military official said on Sunday.
Ten mercenaries were killed in Nehm district and eight others were killed in Serwah district, said the official.
Saudi aggression warplanes have launched more than 49 airstrikes over the past hours on several residential areas across Yemen, a security official said on Sunday.
The airstrikes targeted the areas of Malahiz and Husama in Dhahir district, and areas Thuban, Masahif and Sdad in Bakim district of northern Saada province.
Omar's deputy held in Pakistan?
