Afghan intelligence: Taliban leader Mullah Omar dead

In this image released by the FBI, Mullah Omar is seen in a wanted poster. The reclusive Afghan Taliban leader has backed peace talks with the Kabul government, saying in a rare message distributed to media Wednesday, July 15, 2015 that the goal of these efforts is an "end to occupation" by foreign forces.
In this image released by the FBI, Mullah Omar is seen in a wanted poster. The reclusive Afghan Taliban leader has backed peace talks with the Kabul government, saying in a rare message distributed to media Wednesday, July 15, 2015 that the goal of these efforts is an "end to occupation" by foreign forces.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said Wednesday that the reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has been dead for more than two years.

The one-eyed, secretive head of the Taliban hosted Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaida in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks and then waged a decade-long insurgency against U.S. troops after the 2001 invasion that ended Taliban rule.

He has not been seen in public since fleeing the invasion over the border into Pakistan.

Abdul Hassib Sediqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, said Mullah Omar died in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi in April 2013.

"We confirm officially that he is dead," he said.

It was not immediately clear why his death was only being announced now. The Taliban could not immediately be reached for comment. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said it had no information about the announcement.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more.

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