Osama bin Laden still alive, Taliban commander says

M & C

Mar 1, 2007, 11:03 GMT

Kabul - The leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the world's number one fugitive, Osama bin Laden, is still alive, a top Taliban commander claimed in a rare interview.

'We know he is still alive,' Mullah Dadullah, chief of the resurgent movement's military operations, told Britain's Channel 4 television in comments broadcast Wednesday.

'He is not yet martyred,' Dadullah said at a secret location in Afghanistan.

Speaking in Pashtu, he added that he had not personally seen bin Laden since the Taliban was ousted from power by US-led forces just over five years ago.

'Our comrades stand shoulder to shoulder with us,' he said of current relations between the Taliban and al-Qaeda. 'They keep us informed.'

The United States is offering a reward of 25 million dollars for information leading to the capture of bin Laden, who Washington holds responsible for the terrorist attacks against New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

He is widely believed to have escaped from eastern Afghanistan into Pakistan's mountainous tribal region at the end of that year when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban.

Contrary to US intelligence agency claims, Pakistan said there is no evidence to suggest that leaders of the Taliban or al-Qaeda are hiding on its territory.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur