Pakistan arrests 'voice of Taliban'

The main spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, Abdul Latif Hakimi, was arrested in Pakistan yesterday, the Pakistani government said.

"He was arrested a few hours ago. Intelligence agencies worked on a tip-off. More details will come later," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said. Mr Hakimi has been the main spokesman for the Taliban, who were ousted by US-led forces in 2001.

He was frequently in touch with reporters, speaking by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location, although Afghan and US officials have long suspected he was in Pakistan.

In June, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, publicly questioned Pakistan's inability to find him and other Taliban figures.

Mr Hakimi often made outlandish claims on behalf of Taliban fighters, saying they had inflicted huge casualties on US and Afghan government troops. But his information was also, at times, very accurate.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Hakimi was arrested in Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan.

"We're interrogating him and we expect to get some important information from him," he said.