Pakistani security forces wounded and captured a top Taliban commander yesterday in a raid near the border with Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Mullah Mansour Dadullah took over as commander of Taliban forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand after his brother, Mullah Dadullah, was killed by British forces in May.

"We have reports that Mansour Dadullah has been arrested by security officials during an operation," said an intelligence officer, who requested anonymity.

Four of Dadullah's comrades were also arrested when security forces, acting on a tip-off, swooped on a house in Gawal Ismailzai village, in the Zhob district of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, the official said.

Interior Ministry spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

The arrest came days after a senior US official said that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar were operating from Pakistan.

The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mullah Omar and other commanders were directing the insurgency in Afghanistan from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.

Pakistan has rejected the charges.

Afghan authorities have long claimed al-Qaida and Taliban leaders receive refuge in Pakistan's tribal regions, souring relations between the two Muslim neighbors.

The two countries agreed last August to work more closely to fight the joint militant threat and ties have improved.

Many al-Qaida and Taliban militants fled to the Pakistani tribal region after US-led forces toppled the Taliban militia's government in late 2001.

Pakistani forces have carried out operations to clear the border area of militants and hundreds of people, including army troops, have been killed in clashes with insurgents.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/12/2008 page5)