Mullah Omar's son 'was killed in first air strike'

The son of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban, has been killed by an American air strike.

An Afghan doctor said yesterday that he had struggled in vain to save the life of the boy, aged 10, after the child was injured during the first night of strikes on the southern city of Kandahar.

Dr Abdul Bari said he had treated the boy for abdominal injuries and a broken femur in a hospital in Kandahar and that Mullah Omar had stood by, pleading with the doctor to save his son's life.

Dr Bari was interviewed by the BBC at a border crossing near Quetta in Pakistan. He did not give the boy's name, but said his injuries were too severe to survive. The child died the same night he was admitted to the hospital.

Mullah Omar's uncle was injured in the same attack, Dr Bari said, and was still being treated in hospital in Kandahar. Dr Bari said the hospital had only five days' supply of drugs left to dispense.

Other reports said many of the city's 500,000 inhabitants had fled, leaving only the very poor behind. Kandahar has always been considered the main power base of the Taliban.

Little is known about the 41-year-old Taliban leader and even less about the number of wives and children he has. He is reported to have married Osama bin Laden's eldest daughter, while Mr bin Laden is reported to have taken one of Mullah Omar's daughters as his fourth wife, although the Taliban have denied this.

Some reports have said Mullah Omar has only one son, so it is conceivable that the boy killed in Kandahar was a grandchild of Mr bin Laden.

American officials have admitted they are attacking places where the Taliban leader is known to live, under the supposition that they are military command centres.

The boy's death is just one indication of the mounting civilian death toll from the strikes.

As the third week of attacks began yesterday, Taliban officials said 18 people had been killed in the morning raids over the capital, including eight members of a single family at breakfast time. The Taliban say up to 900 have been killed in attacks since the campaign began on October 7.

There has been no verification of the Taliban claim. Reporters in northern Kabul yesterday saw the bodies of three women and four children killed by bombs.

"There were no military bases here, only innocent people," said Bacha Gul, the brother of one of those who died. "We don't care about military targets. If they want to hit military targets let them, but these were not terrorists."