http://www.telegraph.co.uk
The former Pakistani intelligence agent who is known as the godfather of the Taliban has been killed ten months after being kidnapped by Islamist militants.
Rebels in North Waziristan still hold the body of Col Imam, the code name of 67-year-old Sultan Amir Tarar, and are demanding the release of five associates in return, according to officials.
Tarar was seized in March in one of the most dangerous parts of Pakistan's tribal belt, along with Asad Qureshi, a British filmmaker, and Khalid Khawaja, another former spy officer.
The retired officer from Pakistan's ISI military intelligence service played a central role in forming the Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion of 1979 and then nurtured the Taliban in the 1990s.
He has since been accused of being part of a rogue faction of ISI officers who have continued to support those making attacks on Nato troops.
While running CIA-funded training camps in the 1980s, he trained many of the country's top Mujahideen commanders.
Mullah Omar passed through one of his camps in 1985, nine years before he went on to lead the Taliban movement.
Col Imam was Pakistan's consul general in Herat when the Taliban swept to power in 1995 and he was said to have advised them in their assaults on Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul.
Mr Khawaja's body was found on a roadside in North Waziristan on April 30 with a note pinned to it saying he worked for the CIA and ISI.
Mr Qureshi, who had been making a documentary for Channel 4, was released in September.
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