The deputy leader of the ruling Taleban in Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, has died in hospital in Pakistan.

He was suffering from cancer.

Mullah Rabbani was head of the council of ministers and was one of the main commanders of the Taleban when they entered Kabul in September 1996.

Correspondents say he is believed to have ordered the execution of the former pro-communist president of Afghanistan, Najibullah, who was dragged out of the United Nations compound in Kabul, tortured and hanged.

Mullah Rabbani's body has been flown by a United Nation's plane to the southern city of Kandahar, where he'll be buried later today Monday.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service