KABUL () -- The leader of Afghanistan's opposition Shi'ite Hezb-i-Wahdat faction, Abdul Ali Mazari, was killed in a helicopter crash Monday while being held captive by the Taleban student militia, Afghan government sources said.


They said the crash occurred early in the morning in Ghazni province while Mazari's Taleban captors were transporting him from their base at Charasyab, south of Kabul.


Government commanders monitoring Taleban communications said Mazari and 14 other people on board the helicopter had all died.


Mazari was earlier reported to have been captured by Taleban at his Karte Seh enclave in southwestern Kabul.