Informer hints at lead to bin Laden

KABUL - The United States military believes it has a crucial break in the hunt for Osama bin Laden after a man with links to his al Qaeda group surrendered with what were said to be detailed documents and information.

One report said the man claimed to be a member of the Taleban Shura, or council of elders, and wanted the reward posted by Washington for bin Laden's arrest.

US forces spokesman Lieutenant James Jarvis said: "Our intelligence is jumping with joy over the opportunity to question him."

Neither the man's identity nor his nationality is being disclosed while he is questioned by CIA and military intelligence officials in Kandahar.

But diplomatic sources say he has made it clear he is interested in the $59.6 million reward Washington is offering for information which would lead it to bin Laden.

The man is at present under armed protection at the American base in Kandahar.

It is believed he approached the Americans directly because he did not trust local warlords who are now running the Kandahar region.

The governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, refused to hand seven high-ranking Talebans to the Americans as expected and released them instead.

He was also in the centre of the "surrender negotiations" of Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, which ended when Omar supposedly rode off on a motorbike.

So far the US has been engaged in a fruitless search for bin Laden, the world's most wanted man.

- INDEPENDENT

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