The Pakistani military confirmed today that the Afghan Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured.
US and Pakistani officials who declined to be identified said yesterday Baradar had been captured in the Pakistani city of Karachi in a raid by Pakistani and US agents.
"At the conclusion of detailed identification procedure, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar," the military said.
It declined to say where he had been caught or to give other details, citing security reasons.
The capture came as US forces spearheaded one of Nato's biggest offensives against the Taliban in Afghanistan in an early test of US president Barack Obama's troop surge policy.
US officials and analysts said it was too soon to tell whether Pakistan's cooperation against Baradar would be extended to other top militants on the US hit list.
The arrest followed months of behind-the-scenes prodding by US officials who saw inaction by Islamabad as a major threat to their Afghan war strategy.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik had yesterday declined to confirm Baradar's capture, saying a large number of people had fled operations by Nato forces in Afghanistan to Pakistan and many had been picked up.
He denied that there had been any joint operation by Pakistani and US agents.
Reuters