AFGHANISTAN - Mullah Abdus-Salam Zaeef, Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, confirmed in Islamabad the martyrdom of Bin Laden lieutenant, Abu Hafs Al-Misri, during a U.S. aerial attack last week. A former policeman, Abu Hafs had a $5million bounty on his head and was said to have been involved in Jihad for over 15 years. He is said to have been responsible for organising Somali tribes that killed 18 American soldiers and wounded over 100 in Somalia in 1993.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban are putting up fierce resistance in Kandahar and continue to have complete control of the city. There is no panic, but a strategy is being implemented, which the Taliban have said, will soon shock the World. Meanwhile, tribal authorities in the NWFP Province of Pakistan have detained a leading pro-Taliban Islamic leader on his return from Afghanistan, family sources said today. "Maulana Sahib was arrested in Kurram agency yesterday evening along with 60 followers," Fazllulah, the son of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the head of the Tehrik Nifaze Shariat Mohammadi movement, told reporters.

- Azam