There is even information that they have aeroplanes and helicopters." Another commander, Mullah Mohammed Khaqzar, a former Taliban member, said that Commander Wahid and Mullah Omar would be guarded by the most determined of the Taliban fighters.Gul Agha Shirzai, a local commander, had been expected to launch his own attack on Baghran on Sunday, with a 2,000-strong force. But the advance was cancelled when the American military revealed its own plans to attack.In Washington, Rear Admiral Craig Quigley said that the marines had left Kandahar on an intelligence mission. He denied that Mullah Omar was the target, but added: "If we come across him, we are not going to turn him down.''The Pentagon also announced that the former Taliban chief of intelligence, Qari Ahmadullah, was killed last week in an air strike on Naka in Paktika province.. An actor in Kandahar, an acclaimed independent film about the oppression of Afghan citizens under the Taliban regime, has been accused of assassinating a former Iranian diplomat more than 20 years ago. "We are very confident that the man who appears in the film is indeed David Belfield," he said. "He's an assassin and he's a terrorist."Kandahar's director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf – who has received high praise for the film from critics across Europe and North America – has refused to be drawn into the controversy. "Not seeing the movie is not any major cultural loss to anyone.

It should be stopped."Kandahar's official website says Mr Tantai is a "Muslim of African-American descent who travelled from the US in 1979 to fight alongside Afghans against Russian invaders".In an added twist, Time magazine reported that the would-be actor once lived under yet another name. As Hassan Abdul Rahman, he allegedly edited a state-sponsored English-language newspaper in Iran called Iran Daily, the magazine said.Mr Tantai suggested in the interview, given to the website , that he was cast almost by default."The director got wind of a black American in Tehran who had been in Afghanistan," he said. "When he began to locate people to fill those slots, with respect to the role I play, he did not have many choices.". Tony Blair began a visit to the Indian subcontinent today, hoping to promote calm in the troubled region. He said there would be "enormous problems" for the whole world if current tensions between India and Pakistan got "out of hand".But he cautioned against pinning hopes on his six-day visit to the region bringing peace, as both countries appeared set on continuing their military build-up.Violent clashes continued yesterday as suspected Islamic militants launched another deadly attack in Kashmir, killing a policeman and wounding 24 other people.And, after three days in which tensions had eased marginally, India again turned up the volume of bellicose rhetoric against its neighbour.

At a state election meeting in Lucknow, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, reminded supporters of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party that "the whole world" had ostracised India after it tested nuclear weapons in 1998. "We will defend ourselves with whatever weapons we have," he declared. "If those who attack us die in the process, we cannot be blamed."Yesterday's attack, in which suspected Islamic militants set off two grenades, took place outside the legislature in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The explosions happened close to the spot where nearly 40 died during a fidayeen, suicide attack, on 1 October last year.

That attack triggered the current crisis between India and Pakistan which has culminated in a huge military build-up on both sides of the border.Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Mr Straw said: "There is no Blair peace plan ... that the Prime Minister could or should take out of his pocket The Kashmir dispute goes back to partition in 1947 It is essentially a bilateral dispute. It can only be resolved bilaterally."If there are things the Prime Minister can do which assist in developing a climate in which talks can take place, so much the better."Robin Cook, Mr Straw's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, got his fingers burnt during an earlier trip in 1997 by offering British help in Kashmir. The offer led to India describing Britain as "a third-rate power" and largely wrecked a state visit by the Queen marking the 50th anniversary of independence.Mr Blair will meet Mr Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani President, and urge the two leaders to return to peace talks abandoned last July. He will also appeal to Pakistan to continue its crackdown on the Islamic militant groups blamed for the bloody 13 December assault on the Indian parliament in Delhi.India viewed it as an attack on the essence of the nation, as well as an attempt to exterminate its democratic leadership.It accused two militant groups for the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammed ("Mohammed's Army") and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, (the Army of the Pure). Both are based in Pakistan and are closely related to the Taliban. India believes they are also sponsored and controlled by the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Pakistan's military intelligence agency.India has demanded that Pakistan close down the two groups and other similar organisations, and at the weekend Pakistan arrested the founder of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, which senior Indian officials admitted was a step in the right direction.A report from Islamabad even suggests Pakistan's president may be about to grasp the nettle as India demands.