JALALABAD, March 16: Afghan police said they arrested on Thursday two suspected Taliban insurgents carrying letters from the movement’s fugitive leader and Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The Afghan nationals were arrested separately close to the border with Pakistan in eastern Nangarhar province, border security forces provincial deputy chief Mohammad Ibrar said.

“One of them was carrying letters from (the Taliban’s) Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri,” Mr Ibrar said.

The man had served as a district chief in Nangarhar during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, he said.

“The second man was arrested with some 500 ‘night’ letters which asked people not to cooperate with the ‘illegitimate government’ and to obey orders of Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri,” he said.

Night letters are anonymous leaflets which are occasionally distributed in Afghan towns and villages by militant groups.

Mr Ibrar said the men, whom he did not identify, did not appear to be linked but were carrying documents that could help to point to enemy networks in the country.—AFP