WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Mohammed Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban, is believed to be holed up with hundreds of his fighters in south-central Afghanistan, the intelligence chief for Kandahar's new governor said.
Haji Gulalai, the intelligence chief for Kandahar governor Gul Agha, said his sources were telling him that Omar and several hundred fighters were hiding near Baghran, a town 100 miles northwest of Kandahar, the Associated Press reported.
Omar hasn't surfaced since Dec. 7 when he fled Kandahar at the dead of night as opposition forces moved in to wipe out the last remnants of the fundamentalist militia group.
Multimillion-dollar bounties have been placed on the heads of Omar as well as suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have fled across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan, though none of these reports could be confirmed.
Despite the rout of Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, U.S. forces were still facing pockets of resistance. But officials were now playing down earlier claims that two U.S. transport planes had come under missile fire from hostile ground forces.
At Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., spokesman Maj. Ralph Mills said the plane crew had probably seen muzzle flashes from weapons fired by Afghans as they celebrated the end of Ramadan.
It was initially feared that the missiles were fired from Stingers that were supplied to anti-Soviet fighters back in the 1980s.
In other developments:
Haji Gulalai, the intelligence chief for Kandahar governor Gul Agha, said his sources were telling him that Omar and several hundred fighters were hiding near Baghran, a town 100 miles northwest of Kandahar, the Associated Press reported.
Omar hasn't surfaced since Dec. 7 when he fled Kandahar at the dead of night as opposition forces moved in to wipe out the last remnants of the fundamentalist militia group.
Multimillion-dollar bounties have been placed on the heads of Omar as well as suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have fled across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan, though none of these reports could be confirmed.
Despite the rout of Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, U.S. forces were still facing pockets of resistance. But officials were now playing down earlier claims that two U.S. transport planes had come under missile fire from hostile ground forces.
At Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., spokesman Maj. Ralph Mills said the plane crew had probably seen muzzle flashes from weapons fired by Afghans as they celebrated the end of Ramadan.
It was initially feared that the missiles were fired from Stingers that were supplied to anti-Soviet fighters back in the 1980s.
In other developments:
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