Pakistani Taliban commander surrenders

ISLAMABAD, May 2 -- A senior Pakistani Taliban commander Saturday surrendered to the authorities in the country's tribal region, according to local TV reports.

The state-run PTV quoted officials as saying that the security forces Saturday surrounded the house of Iftikhar Ahmed Khan, head of Taliban in the Khyber agency, and asked him to surrender.

Khan was wanted for attacks on NATO supply trucks and security personnel, the officials said. Khan, 35, was also accused of sheltering foreign militants and kidnapping people for ransom.

Khan was appointed commander in the Khyber agency of the "Tehrik-e-Taliban" led by Baitullah Mehsood after the arrest of Mustafa Kamran last year.

The authorities arrested Kamran when he was shopping in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.

The authorities, on several occasions, asked Khan to surrender but he refused. ¡¡