May 26, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1424

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KABUL, May 25: Security forces in Afghanistan have reportedly captured five suspected Taliban including “notorious Al Qaeda link” Mullah Janan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Sunday.

“This morning we received a report from Kandahar that a group of Taliban which wanted to plant a bomb in one of the populated areas, near a government facility in Kandahar were caught. Among them was Mullah Janan,” he told reporters at a press conference.

Abdullah described the mullah as “one of the notorious links of Al Qaeda among the Taliban.”

While five Taliban had been captured, the preliminary report that Janan was among them had not yet been confirmed, Abdullah said.

Kandahar police commander Gen Mohammad Akram said five to seven Taliban were arrested in possession of mines.

“These people were involved in a terrorist attack,” he told AFP in Kandahar.