Osama Bin Laden is Alive and Well, Says Taliban Leader

The brother of a Taliban commander killed by US forces has claimed that he received a letter of condolence from Osama Bin Laden, who was "alive, active and well".

In a television interview today, Haji Mansour Dadullah said the al-Qaida leader had expressed sympathy for the death of his brother, Mullah Dadullah, who was killed by US forces last month.

Mullah Dadullah was the Taliban's top military commander and leading public figure. He was notorious for orchestrating massacres, kidnappings, beheadings and suicide bombings, and would frequently boast to the media about attacks he had organised.

The one-legged militant leader was killed during fighting in Helmand, the province in southern Afghanistan where British troops are based, something Nato said later had dealt the insurgency a "serious blow".

Speaking from Afghanistan, Haji Mansour Dadullah told Al-Jazeera television station that Bin Laden had said he was keeping a low media profile to maintain his safety.

"These are just military tactics. He prefers not to appear [in public] because if he appeared in the media or met people he might face danger," he said. "He is alive, active and well."

The last message purportedly from Bin Laden to the media was an audio eulogy in June last year following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq.

Haji Mansour Dadullah claimed he had also been in contact with Bin Laden. He told the Dubai-based broadcaster that he had urged Bin Laden not to meet anyone and "to stay in hiding and continue to give directives ... so that al-Qaida stays active in Afghanistan and the world".

Sitting in a field, Haji Dadullah said Bin Laden "told me to follow in the steps of my brother and urged Muslims to follow the steps of Mullah Dadullah because he was a mujahid".

It was not clear when the interview was recorded.

According to Reuters, Mullah Dadullah has been replaced as the Taliban's commander by his relatively unknown brother, Mullah Bakht Mohammad. Mullah Dadullah, who was close to the Taliban's fugitive leader Mullah Omar, was said to have been cornered after he was betrayed by associates.

The US believes that Bin Laden, who had his 50th birthday in March, is hiding in the mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; the most popular current theory is that he is in Pakistan's tribal belt.

There are mixed views about whether Bin Laden has significant health problems, particularly with his kidneys. Some have claimed he is dependent on dialysis, others say this is not the case and he is in good health.

Last September a French regional paper, L'Est Republicain, quoting a French intelligence report picked up at a cocktail party in Pakistan, claimed he had died of typhoid.