December 30, 2007	Sunday	Zilhaj 19, 1428

KANDAHAR, Dec 29: The leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has sacked one of his key military commanders, accusing him of not obeying orders, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed read to this reporter over the telephone a statement issued by Omar that said Mullah Mansoor Dadullah was sacked “because he disobeyed orders of the Islamic Emirate” of Taliban. The statement did not give details.

Mullah Mansoor Dadullah succeeded his elder brother – the Taliban’s top military commander Mullah Dadullah – who was killed in an Afghan and Nato operation in May. Dadullah, the mastermind of Taliban military operations, was the most high-ranking Taliban commander to be killed since the rebels launched an insurgency following the toppling of their government in a US-led invasion in 2001.

“Anyone helping Mansoor Dadullah should know that he is no longer with Taliban,” Mujahed said, quoting Omar.

The one-eyed Omar, who is wanted by the US and the Afghan government and carries a multimillion-dollar bounty on his head, asked Mansoor’s fighters to continue to carry out their “activities”.

“The friends and fighters of martyred Dadullah should continue their activities,” he said, referring to the slain brother who was said to have been close to Omar.—AFP