- (AFP) - An Afghan commander in charge of the Tora Bora
caves in eastern Afghanistan said that Osama bin Laden had probably gone
to Pakistan.
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- "My personal feeling is that Osama bin Laden has
left for Pakistan," Haji Musa, a commander whose forces are deployed
in the White Mountain range, told AFP Saturday.
-
- US and Afghan forces have been searching for signs of
bin Laden, the number one suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York
and Washington, around Tora Bora since al-Qaeda forces fled last weekend.
-
- ___
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- Bin Laden Dead, Says Musharraf
- By Chris Bunting
12-23-1
-
- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said there was a
strong possibility that Osama bin Laden had been killed in American bombing
of the Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains.
-
- In an interview broadcast on Chinese state television
yesterday, General Musharraf said he was "reasonably sure" that
bin Laden has not escaped from Afghanistan into Pakistan and that there
was "great possibility" that the al-Qa'ida leader was already
dead.
-
- The Pakistani President, who is on a visit to China,
said his forces were maintaining a close watch on its border with
Afghanistan
and that if bin Laden was found he would be handed over to the
Americans.
-
- "He's not in Pakistan, of that we are reasonably
sure. But we can't be 100 per cent sure. We have sealed the borders between
Afghanistan and Pakistan," Musharraf said. "Maybe he is dead
because of all the operations that have been conducted, the bombardment
of the all the caves," General Musharraf said. "There is a great
possibility that he may have lost his life there."
-
- American forces' intense bombardment of the Tora Bora
area over the last month devastated the last Afghan stronghold of bin
Laden's
al-Qa'ida terrorist network. Hundreds of al-Qa'ida fighters were reported
to have fled towards the nearby Pakistan border and some were arrested
by Pakistani security forces. There has been no sign of bin Laden, and
interrogated prisoners have claimed they last saw bin Laden days before
the end of the bombardment of Tora Bora.
-
- US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that a
potential treasure trove of intelligence information had been left behind
by al-Qa'ida in Tora Bora.
-
- He said US troops had begun searching the cave network
in the mountains and that more US and allied forces would be sent to hunt
for guerrillas and intelligence over the next few days.
-
- General Musharraf earlier criticised India as high-handed
after New Delhi called home its ambassador from Pakistan amid a worsening
row over terror attacks. India announced the sanctions on Friday after
blaming Pakistan for 13 December suicide attack.
-
- Pakistan has denied responsibility and condemned the
New Delhi attack.
-
- Musharraf didn't comment on a call Friday by US President
George W Bush for Pakistan to clamp down on one of two Islamic militant
organisations accused by India of carrying out the attack.
-
- However, he said Islam was a peaceful religion and that
Muslims "don't believe in any violence".
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- http://news.independent.co.uk
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