Peshawar:Pakistan's military arrested the top Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security and government officials said Tuesday."A very, very important militant has been arrested," said Major Fazal Ur Rehman, head of the military's media cell, declining to give the militant's identity ahead of a press conference at 11:00 am (0500 GMT.)
But government and military officials said the detainee was Maulvi Omar, the spokesman for Pakistan's feared Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) organization, led by Baitullah Mehsud, who was reported dead this month.
Rehman said the detainee would be presented at the press conference in the tribal Mohmand region, an area rife with militant activity.
As the official spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Omar frequently called journalists to claim responsibility for terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Omar's capture was the second high-profile arrest of a senior Taliban figure this week.
On Monday night, police said they arrested a militant commander and close Mehsud aide who was being treated in a private hospital in Islamabad, the capital.
Militant commander Qari Saifullah, who also has links to al-Qaida terrorists, told police he had been wounded in an American missile strike in South Waziristan, said two police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan's military has been locked in a more than three-month battle with militants across swathes of the northwest, and operations have begun to move into the Taliban heartland in the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
In an apparent blow to the militants, Mehsud was this month reported killed in a U.S. drone missile strike in South Waziristan, although both countries have stopped short of confirming his death.
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