A close aide to al-Qaeda's head Osama Bin Laden and former leader of Afghan Taliban Mulla Omar escaped before police raided his house on Sunday in Nagina Colony, Multan in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, Daily Times reported Monday.

Unnamed sources were quoted as saying that Pakistani intelligence agencies traced Abdur Rehman Wazir's satellite phone call to Multan and raided his house, but Wazir fled while three activists of a banned militant organization were arrested.

Wazir helped Mulla Omar escape from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan on a motorbike after the fall of the Taliban. After fleeing from Afghanistan, Wazir hid in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region and formed a group with al-Qaeda activists Abu Haris and Abu Khalid. Haris and Khalid were later killed in military operations in Waziristan after which Wazir left the place and settled in southern Punjab, the paper said.

Abu Farraj Al Libbi, the third most wanted al-Qaeda activist, who was arrested a few weeks ago, also gave information about Wazir.Wazir's arrest could have been big, but unfortunately he escaped, the sources said.

"It is quite possible that Wazir is in touch with Bin Laden or Aiman al Zawahiri or even Mulla Omar," they said.

The search for Wazir is continuing throughout southern Punjab.

Source: Xinhua