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2 Taliban Officials Captured in Kandahar

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From a Times Staff Writer

Security forces captured the personal security chief of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and another Taliban official in the southern city of Kandahar, provincial officials said today.

Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan and Mullah Qayoom Angar were captured in the raid of a house in the former Taliban stronghold.

Both men were loyal to Omar and suspected of still being part of Taliban operations in southern Afghanistan.

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Afghan Interior Ministry officials said that Kandahar police arrested three Taliban fighters on Monday after stopping their sport utility vehicle and finding it was loaded with 550 pounds of explosives and remote-control bombs.

“The men were headed toward Kandahar city, and when interrogated they confessed that Naqibullah and another commander had assigned them to transport the explosives,” Interior Ministry spokesman Najibullah Najib said in the capital, Kabul.

On Tuesday, Kandahar police located a house where Naqibullah and Angar were staying and arrested them, Najib said.

Officials said they hoped the arrests would lead them to Omar.

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