Afghan leader executed by Taliban

Taliban forces said they executed a legendary Aghan guerilla fighter whom they captured near Kabul today.

Abdul Haq, who had been trying in exile to build a coalition to succeed the Taliban, was killed after slipping back into Afghanistan, the Pakistan–based Afghan Islamic Press reported.

Taliban forces said Haq and and two companions were shot after being captured about 20 miles south of Kabul. Haq, a guerrilla leader in the war against the Soviet Union, slipped into Afghanistan with peace proposals on behalf of former king Mohammad Zaher Shah.

He appeared to have been dropped into Afghanistan by helicopter from Pakistan and there were reports that a helicopter tried to rescue him but was driven off by Taliban fire.

The death of Haq threatens to remove a central player in Afghan opposition efforts to build a coalition to succeed the Taliban.

The Taliban's Bakhtar news agency said Haq, who has one foot, was captured early today after villagers in Logar province, some 30 miles east of Kabul, tipped off Taliban intelligence to his whereabouts.

There was a firefight between Haq's party and the Taliban, leaving four Taliban soldiers and three civilians injured, the agency said.

Bakhtar said Haq was "killed by the Taliban" under a religious decree that stipulates death for anyone spying for Britain and the United States. It wasn't clear how Haq was executed.

According to Bakhtar, Haq was found with two satellite telephones, US dollars and documents. The news agency didn't say what the documents were.

"At the same time Abdul Haq was captured, one jet and two helicopters came to try to help him but they failed," the agency said.

Earlier, Taliban officials told the Afghan Islamic Press agency that Haq was captured about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Kabul. Later, Bakhtar reported that Haq was killed in a shootout. Then came the report of his execution.

In Peshawar, Pakistan, Haq's nephew, Mohammed Yousuf, said "Bakhtar news agency is lying. I know that he is alive."

Asked how he knew that, he replied: "We don't have any source but we know that he's alive." He refused to give details.

The nephew said Haq went to Afghanistan six days ago along with six or seven people, most of them his relatives.

In Rome, Hamid Sidiq, a spokesman for the former king, said: "Commander Haq was on a mission for peace, not for war. He was not going to fight anyone but to talk to tribal elders to inform them about the peace initiative of his majesty, the king."

If the report about Haq's death is confirmed, he would be the second key opposition figure killed in two months. Northern alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massood was assassinated in a Sept. 9 suicide bombing.

Haq was a hero of Afghan resistance in fighting against the 1980s' Soviet invasion, one wound from which sheared off a foot.

Like most of the Taliban and most of southern Afghanistan's people, Haq was a Pashtun.