KABUL, Oct 27: The Taliban said on Saturday they were searching for a man believed to be an American who had been travelling with executed opposition commander Abdul Haq.

“He was spotted with Abdul Haq and as far as we know his name is Jamber Jihi,” information ministry spokesman Abdul Hanan Himat said. “We are searching for him.”

On Friday the militia dealt a blow to US plans to undermine it by executing Haq. The Pakhtoon warlord, on a mission to raise rebellion, was executed just hours after his capture. The United States sent an unmanned, armed spy plane to try to save him.

Himat said he did not know how the American travelling with the famed commander from the jihad, or holy war, against Soviet occupation, had disappeared and where he might have gone.

Haq had slipped into eastern Afghanistan on Oct 21 to try to turn Pakhtoon tribes against Kabul.

The Taliban said he was captured in eastern Logar province, only 30kms from the Pakistan’s border, after a chase in which US aircraft opened fire to try to help him to escape. He was executed as a spy, they said.

In Washington, US officials said an unmanned Predator spy plane equipped with Hellfire anti-tank missiles had been sent to aid Haq when he called for help while trying to flee the Taliban early on Friday.

Haq was fleeing from Taliban forces when he used a satellite phone to call a friend in Pakistan. That in turn resulted in phone calls to Washington seeking help for Haq, US sources said.

The Predator, which was in the area but not ideally suited to the task, went to help Haq. It fired missiles at the Taliban, striking some of them, before returning to base safely, US officials said.

The US military was unable to get any other help to Haq in time because he was in an area of Afghanistan not quickly accessible to US forces, sources said. The location of the incident was not clear. “We once again would like to say that America was involved in the air operation to rescue them,” Himat said of Haq and his travelling companions.—Reuters