Pakistan seizes Taleban spokesman

A former spokesman for fugitive Taleban leader Mullah Omar has been arrested in north-west Pakistan, officials say.

Ustad Yasar was detained in the city of Peshawar after a tip-off, they said, without giving further details.

Mr Yasar was arrested in Pakistan in 2005 and handed over to Afghanistan, where he was released in exchange for a kidnapped Italian reporter in 2007.

Many Taleban officials fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan after the US-invasion ousted the regime in 2001.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been strained in recent years over complaints by Kabul that Islamabad is not doing enough to fight Taleban militants operating from Pakistani soil.

Pakistan denies the allegations.