Pakistani investigators are questioning the Taliban's top spokesman today, hoping to uncover links with militant leaders and determine how he was operating in Pakistan, government and security officials have said.
Pakistani security forces arrested Abdul Latif Hakimi in the southwestern province of Baluchistan yesterday. He was detained with five other suspected Taliban members in a raid on a house on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital.
A satellite phone, two mobile phones and a fax machine were seized in the raid. "He was using the fax machine to send messages from Mullah Omar and statements on Taliban activities to newspapers in Pakistan and other countries," said an intelligence official who declined to be identified.
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has been in hiding since US-led forces ousted his government in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks.
Mr Hakimi had said in the past he had no idea of the whereabouts of bin Laden. "We're interrogating him for his links with the Taliban high-ups and how was he operating in Pakistan," the Pakistani official said.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed described Hakimi's arrest as a big catch and said he hoped it would lead to information about the whereabouts of Taliban leaders.
Hakimi could be handed over to US, Mr Ahmed said. The United States and Afghanistan welcomed the arrest but there has been no word on whether Washington would seek his custody.