KANDAHAR, July 25: Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has called on supporters to unite and fight Afghan and foreign troops, according to an unverified audio tape address to guerillas released on Monday.

“Get united, put aside your differences, continue jihad against the invaders, and you will be victorious,” a man purported to be the one-eyed Taliban leader is heard saying on the tape.

If authentic, it would be Mullah Omar’s first direct audio address to followers since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001.

The tape was distributed to major news agencies, but it was unclear if it had been broadcast across Afghanistan.

Mullah Omar is high on the US most-wanted list for having sheltered Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In the tape recording the man purported to be Mullah Omar is heard calling on his supporters to ‘put aside their differences and unite’ in the fight against government and foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Copies of the tape were passed on to reporters by an unknown person in Kandahar.

“The tape is to prove that Mullah Omar is alive, unlike the rumours spread by our enemies that he is dead,” self-styled Talbian spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said via satellite phone from an undisclosed location. —AFP