QUETTA, Jan 30: Two former ministers of the Taliban regime were detained on Wednesday near Quetta, a police official said.

Nazar Jan Baluch, a senior Quetta police official, told Reuters the two men were identified as the Taliban’s former chief justice Maulvi Noor Mohammad Saqib and deputy foreign minister Maulvi Abdul Rehman Zahid.

“We launched pre-dawn raids on Station village and Wazirabad village in Kutchlaq area and detained two central leaders of the Taliban,” Baluch said.

He said the two men arrived in the Quetta area some time ago and had been living with relatives.

Senior Taliban spokesman, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, and former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, have been captured, but most of the movement’s top leadership, including Mulla Mohammad Omar, remain at large.—Reuters