The Taliban in Afghanistan insisted on Wednesday that their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was alive, saying a text message and Internet posting announcing his death were fake.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that the early morning announcement about Mullah Omar was the result of a hack.

"He is overseeing operations in the country," Mujahid told The Associated Press. "Outsiders must have hacked into Taliban phones and the website." Mujahid blamed US intelligence agencies, saying they were trying "to demoralize the Taliban."

Mullah Omar has led the decade-long insurgency against the US-led military coalition and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. He ruled most of Afghanistan as leader of its Taliban government before the United States and its allies invaded on October 7, 2001, in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Violence has spiked recently as Afghan security forces start to take charge of security in seven areas, a process that is to continue until they are in the lead across the nation by 2014, when foreign combat troops will be gone or in supportive roles.

On Sunday, Bamiyan province, a relatively peaceful area in central Afghanistan, became the first area to begin transition. Two days later, US forces turned over control of Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province in the east.