Citing Pakistani security sources, the British newspaper said that an edict calling for bin Laden's death had been issued by Takfiris, a breakaway faction of Islamic Jihad with cells in Britain, Africa and the Middle East.

Several attempts have been made on the Saudi-born millionaire's life and members of Takfiris, and Al Qaeda, Bin Laden's organisation, have been killed in tit-for-tat shootings in recent months, it said.

Arab relief workers first saw the fatwa against bin Laden outside Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier province, according to the Sunday Times.

The document accused him of diverting resources away from other jihad groups, and called for the ``death of the infidel'', saying he had turned himself into a prince instead of arevolutionary.

Washington suspects bin Laden of plotting the August 7, 1998 bomb attacks on its embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed 224 people, and has offered a five-million-dollar reward for his capture.

But he remains at large in Afghanistan, where the country's ruling Taliban militia refuses to expel him.

KABUL: Meanwhile, Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar was quoted as saying on Sunday that the United States had ``no right'' to demand bin Laden's expulsion from Afghanistan.

The Americans ``do not have a right'' to seek bin Laden's extradition, the Taliban's supreme leader said in a statement published by the Shariat weekly. Omar called upon the world's Muslims to show solidarity against United States policy towards the 41-year-old millionaire.

Earlier this month, Washington slapped economic sanctions against the Taliban which included a freeze on Taliban financial and property assets in the US and a ban on trade with the hardline Islamic militia. Omar condemnedthe sanctions as unjust and malicious and accused the United States of adopting ``vindictive action because of mutual differences.''