KABUL, March 30 Kyodo Former Tali...

KABUL, March 30 Kyodo

Former Taliban leader Mullah Omar may have been seriously injured in a U air raid in southeastern Afghanistan, the state-run Kabul television network reported Monday.

Citing a report on Radio Liberty which quoted a doctor who treated Omar, the network said Omar was injured in an air raid in the province of Zabul nevertheless did not say when the air raid took place or gave any other details of his injury.

Omar's whereabouts have been unknown since Taliban fl their holdouts in Kandahar in December 2001 He is believed to have been hiding somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistani border, as is the leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network, Osama bin Laden.

The U military has been intensifying the cleanup operation of Taliban leaders and members of the al-Qaida network from the beginning of the month It is likely that Omar was injured in these operations, examiners say.

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