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Feb. 16 (BBC News) - A man described as the top Afghan Taliban military commander and named as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been captured in Pakistan, US officials say.
He was seized in a morning raid on a madrassa near Karachi by Pakistan's ISI intelligence service on 8 February, a security source told the BBC.
The government has yet to confirm the arrest; the Taliban have denied it.
The capture comes amid a major Nato-led offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
While the raid on Madarassa Khuddamul Quran - near the Nooriabad Industrial Estate some 45km (28 miles) from Karachi - was led by the ISI, it is not clear at the moment whether US officials were involved.
Correspondents say Mullah Baradar is reported to be in charge of all long-term strategic military planning for the Taliban in southern Afghanistan and, if confirmed, his arrest will have a very big effect on the Taliban's ability to conduct the insurgency there.
Senior US officials said Mullah Baradar was "providing intelligence".
"This operation was an enormous success," one official told ABC News.
"It is a very big deal," the official said.
The New York Times, citing US government sources, said the prisoner was the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the US-led war in Afghanistan began in 2001.
But a Taliban spokesman denied the reports, saying Mullah Baradar was still in Afghanistan actively organising the group's military and political activities.
"He has not been captured. They want to spread this rumour just to divert the attention of people from their defeats in Marjah and confuse the public," Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters news agency, referring to the US-led Nato offensive in the Marjah area of Helmand province.
