KABUL, March 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior Taliban commander has given up resistance and surrendered to the Afghan government Saturday, said an official of defense ministry here on Sunday.

    "Backing government's amnesty and reconciliation policy, a prominent Taliban commander Mullah Amanullah surrendered to government troops in Deh Chopan district of Zabul province," Zahir Azimi told a press conference.

    Another armed Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Rahman was apprehended in the same area that day, added the spokesman.

    Under the amnesty and national reconciliation policy initiated by President Hamid Karzai and US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad late last year, a number of low grade Taliban militias returned to their homes.

    However, Taliban's elusive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar has timeand again termed the offer as a trick to split his fundamentalist movement and rejected it.

    Afghan army has arrested some 50 Taliban insurgents over the past one year, said the spokesman, declining to say whether any key figure was among them. Enditem