A huge manhunt for Mullah Mohammed Omar was under way in southern Afghanistan last night, with US troops closing in on a mountain village suspected of harbouring the Taliban leader.
Helicopters hovered as the US soldiers and their Afghan allies fanned across the slopes of Helmand province, in an apparent effort to surround Mullah Omar, who is said to be guarded by armed loyalists.
Afghan commanders monitored by Washington and Kabul asked village elders, in what was once a Taliban stronghold, to confirm the cleric's presence and to hand him over.
Afghanistan's prime minister, Mr Hamid Karzai, said the mission to capture Mullah Omar started on Monday night when dozens of US marines boarded CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters at their base in Kandahar and flew in the direction of Baghran, 100 miles north-west. They were escorted by a B-52 bomber and fighter jet. "If he's there, he'll be arrested. We are determined to see him arrested," said Mr Karzai.
US central command in Florida confirmed an operation was under way but denied the troops were actively searching for Mullah Omar. "That's not their mission," said Col Rick Thomas, a spokesman for the command. "It's a place that was occupied by al-Qaeda or Taliban so we're looking for whatever there may have been left behind," he said.
President Bush raised expectations by repeating his vow that Mullah Omar would be caught. "Any time you get a person running, it means you're going to get him pretty soon. And the same with Mullah Omar. It's just a matter of time."
The US troops were deployed with full combat gear, including backpacks, helmets, goggles, M-16 rifles, grenades and anti-tank rockets that can destroy bunkers.
The remote uplands of Helmand province were Taliban heartlands before the Islamic regime's collapse, but analysts doubted that residents would risk annihilation by US bombers to shelter the Taliban leader.
Mr Haji Gullalai, Kandahar's anti-Taliban intelligence chief, said that Afghan allies had mobilised 2,000 fighters to comb Helmand, and that villagers had been told to surrender their alleged guest. "We have told them to give us Omar but no ultimatum has been issued. We have two goals: to disarm irresponsible people and to get Omar, who is a criminal for the Afghan people and the whole world."
Mr Gullalai said spies within the fugitive's entourage had betrayed his Baghran hideout last week but the manhunt may have been aimed at capturing lesser prey.
Mr Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan foreign minister, told the BBC that a search for Taliban leaders was under way in Helmand but declined to specify which leaders were being hunted.
Baghran's tribal chief, Mr Abdul Wahid, was an important Taliban military commander who could be the mission's target, Mullah Mohammed Khaksar, an ex-intelligence chief in Kandahar, said: "I am sure Omar is not in Baghran and I suspect the Americans are after Wahid. He is likely to surrender rather than fight against overwhelming force."
AFP reports: Afghanistan's new government yesterday defended the US bombing campaign which helped bring it to power, saying American planes had "no other choice" but to attack an eastern village, despite civilian deaths.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said at least 92 civilians were killed in the US bombing of Nizai Qala in Paktia province overnight on Saturday.
Local people said at least 70 people including some foreigners died.