Taliban leader Mullah Omar 'dead'

Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who led the bloody insurgency against the US, is said to have died two years ago.

A rare photo of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. (AAP)

Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, died two years ago in Pakistan, a senior Afghan government official says.

"We have confirmed with Pakistani officials and with Taliban sources that he died due to illness," the official told dpa on condition of anonymity.

Omar, the one-eyed, secretive head of the Taliban and an al-Qaida ally, led a bloody insurgency against US-led forces after they toppled him from his rule in Afghanistan in 2001.