US B-52s dropped satellite-guided bombs on an al-Qaeda base in eastern Afghanistan today as Afghan fighters and US soldiers searched a village where they believe Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is trapped.
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The Taliban leader, Mullah Omar
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But officials played down reports Omar might already have been seized by forces loyal to the new government.
"I don't think he's been captured yet. If he has been captured I would know it," Afghanistan's interim leader, Mr Hamid Karzai, said. He said he would hand Mullah Omar over to Washington if and when he was taken.
An Afghan official said US forces were searching homes around the village in the Baghran area, 160 kilometres northwest of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.
Afghanistan's interim Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah claimed Omar was surrounded near Baghran.
He called Omar "a terrorist" and said he will be tried before an international tribunal "or here in Afghanistan."
"That will be decided when we capture him," Abdullah said. "He is in Baghran."
Osama bin Laden has also disappeared since the fall of the Taliban regime after weeks of intensive US bombing.
Mr Karzai said he believed bin Laden was still alive and pledged to hand him over for trial if he too were captured.
The Pentagon confirmed a second air strike in as many days on a suspected base in eastern Afghanistan. The Zhawar Kili base in Khost Province was also hit by US bombers yesterday.