KANDAHAR CITY, April 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban Tuesday admitted their men had been surrounded in a village in the southern Uruzgan province, but denied the dreaded commander Mullah Dadullah was among them.

A number of fighters had been trapped in Chora district, but Mullah Dadullah was not among those encircled, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News by telephone from an undisclosed location.

On Monday, senior officials including the deputy interior minister claimed Afghan and NATO forces had surrounded hundreds of Taliban insurgents who had assembled for meeting in the area. They officials believed Dadullah was possibly among them.

The military operations commander was neither in Uruzgan nor surrounded in Chora, the Taliban spokesman insisted, saying that only low-level fighters had been trapped. No senior commanders were at the meeting, he reiterated.

Meanwhile, Uruzgan police chief Gen. Muhammad Qasim said they were zeroing in on the surrounded fighters. Security forces had delayed a final push because the militants had sneaked into civilian houses, he added.

Security personnel were exercising extreme caution for fears the civilians might be harmed, argued Gen. Qasim, who said they were trying to convince the encircled men to surrender without a fight.

He went on to reveal they had seized last night two pick-up trucks belonging to the besieged combatants. One of the vehicles was full of weapons including explosives and heavy machine-guns, the police chief continued.

Early last year, Taliban took control of Chora but government forces later wrested back the district, known as a militant stronghold.

Afghans said NATO troops were involved in the siege but a spokesman for the military alliance denied having any information about fighting in Uruzgan.

Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Abdul Hadi Khalid told the Meshrano Jirga, or upper house of parliament, a day earlier the militants were running low on ammunition. "If they fail to surrender, we will go on to arrest them."

Abdul Samad Rohani

mud