Afghan government 'holds secret talks with Taliban group linked to al-Qaida'

A member of the Afghan parliament who did not want to be identified said President Hamid Karzai's government had been in direct contact with Jalaludin Haqqani, the ageing leader of the Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan and thought to have close ties to Pakistan's intelligence service.

Confirmation of talks with the Haqqani network would indicate negotiations are being held with more than a handful of disaffected low to mid-level insurgents as the West seeks an end to the war , which has been going on for more than nine years.

While sceptical in the past, the United States last week expressed support for the Afghan government's efforts to talk with senior members of the Taliban.

Mr Karzai, meanwhile, has asked Pakistan to hand over 31 Taliban figures who have been detained in the neighbouring country, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban's number two leader who was arrested in February in a joint raid with the CIA.

In a statement, the Taliban said no top leaders of the Taliban, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, have been talking to the Afghan government.

US officials have long said they did not expect the the hard-line Islamic movement to talk peace so long as the militants believed they were winning. The Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks triggered the Afghan war.

That stance changed publicly last week when US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backed exploratory talks between the Afghan government and the militants.

Confirmation of talks came as the Ministry of Defence confirmed the death of a British soldier while clearing explosive devices in Afghanistan.

The serviceman, from 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance), died on Tuesday morning in an explosion in Helmand Province.