Top Taliban leader captured in Pakistan

Pakistani security forces have arrested the Taliban's former defense minister, the most senior figure from the Islamist regime to be captured since it fell in 2001, security officials said yesterday.

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who has a US$1 million bounty on his head, was captured with four other suspects in the southwestern city of Quetta early this week, two senior security officials said on condition of anonymity.

The arrest came shortly after US Vice President Dick Cheney visited Pakistan to urge President Pervez Musharraf to clamp down on Taliban and al-Qaeda militants ahead of a feared militant spring offensive.

"Obaidullah was arrested in Quetta along with four other men in a raid on a hotel," one of the officials said, without giving further details.

The other official said a large amount of Iranian currency was seized with Akhund.

"He was one of the highest ranking Taliban. It is a very major breakthrough and a very serious blow to Taliban insurgents. I think it will slow down Taliban attacks for the time being," the official said.