Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar are probably still in Afghanistan, the country’s interim Foreign Minister Mr Abdullah Abdullah said today.
However, when asked if he had any information on their whereabouts, Mr Abdullah said he did not know where they were and admitted the trail had gone cold in the hunt for the two men.
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Mr Abdullah Abdullah
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"It will be known sooner or later, but at this stage, we are not certain about their location," he said. "It is most likely that they are in Afghanistan."
Afghan fighters thought last week they had cornered Mullah Omar, the former leader of the fundamentalist Taliban movement ousted in November, near Baghran in southwestern Afghanistan, but he was never found.
A spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province said this morning that Omar is probably still hiding in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.
Thousands of our forces are looking for him, he can't escape from us," the spokesman said.
He added that said three Taliban ministers had surrendered to authorities in Kandahar. "Among those who surrendered were former minister of defence Mullah Ubai Dullah, minister of justice Mullah Turabi and minister of mines and industry Mullah Saadudin," he said.