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Mullah Omar took a rickshaw to
escape US attack

American forces had come very close to killing Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar during the bombing raids on his compound in southern Afghanistan, but he managed to escape in a rickshaw.

Qari Saheb, a long time driver of Omar who is now hiding in Pakistan, has told a magazine that he was with the Taliban leader at his compound in Kandahar when the first American bombs began to fall.

Omar initially spurned advisers who begged him to flee. "Even if (US President George) Bush shows up at my door, I will not leave," he reportedly said.

Knowing that the Americans would target his sports utility vehicle, aides ushered Omar into a rickshaw and pulled him to the centre of town. He shifted to a mud-covered truck and disappeared, the Newsweek magazine quoted Saheb as saying.

Omar spent the next several days moving from house to house, sleeping in basements, it said.

After the Taliban's control of Afghanistan crumbled, American soldiers came to search Omar's house.

Saheb claimed that Omar's supporters were hiding so close by that they threw grenades, as the Americans withdrew. A Taliban commander ordered his six tanks to open fire, but the US bombs destroyed them first, he added.

"What kind of an army are these Americans," Saheb wondered, adding, "It was amazing to see how they destroyed all our tanks."

PTI

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