Posted on 03/06/2003 1:16:24 PM PST by Straight Vermonter
New clue to Bin Laden hideout From correspondents in Islamabad March 07, 2003
PAKISTANI and US agents have stepped up the hunt for al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the south-west Pakistani province of Baluchistan and the country's far north, a senior security official has revealed.
"There is a possibility that bin Laden could be hiding in Baluchistan close to the Afghan border or in Chitral," the official said.
"These areas are being searched."
Chitral lies in rugged mountains hugging the Afghan border about 300km north-west of Islamabad in North West Frontier Province.
Investigators narrowed bin Laden's possible whereabouts to the two regions based on evidence recovered from al-Qaeda's alleged operations chief, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was captured in a pre-dawn swoop in Rawalpindi city on Saturday.
"I will not say that we are close to the man, but there are some very important pieces of information with us," the official said.
"If the information is accurate, then he cannot hide for long."
Both the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have agents in Pakistan assisting Pakistani security forces in sniffing out al-Qaeda fugitives.
More than 450 al-Qaeda suspects have been arrested in Pakistan in the joint US-Pakistani manhunt since the war on terrorism began 18 months ago.
Agence France-Presse
Let me see. We already have troops in Afghanistan. And some in Pakistan, helping hunt for OBL. And in about a week we'll have a significant presence throughout Iraq. Which means we'll pretty much have Iran surrounded.
If OBL and his band of merry men were to flee Pakistan into Iran, the U.S. might not have any choice but to send the troops in after him (in force, from all sides). If "regime change" were to occur in Iran while we were in the neighborhood, I guess we wouldn't object.
Hmmm.
So that's where the French Carrier DeGaulle is going.
Even if they catch or kill him, there is still much work to be done in the war on terrorism. I would prefer they kill him. The alternative, is a cot and 3 hots a day, cable TV, telephone, law library, with the best medical treatment he can get, including needed organ transplants, plus he will get a cult following, and all the kooks will send him money and
Intelligence officials said that the hunt for Mr bin Laden is now "white hot", and is concentrated around the southern Pakistani port of Gawadar.
European intelligence sources said on Thursday that the news of the arrest last week of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda operations chief, is thought to have led to Mr bin Laden leaving his previous hideout among the barren mountains along the Pakistan-Afghan border. This has now led investigators to scour the coastline around Gawadar, as expectations have risen that the al-Qaeda leader may be planning to escape by boat.
An intelligence source said on Thursday that the hunt for signs of Mr bin Laden's escape plans are also continuing in Rawalpindi, where Mr Mohammed was captured. Investigators have now examined letters and a video sent recently by Mr bin Laden to Mr Mohammed in which he gave instructions for the terror campaign to continue. The suggestion is that Mr bin Laden had not expected Mr Mohammed to be captured, and had given him responsibility for continuing the terror campaign.
"What is clear is that the likelihood of picking up bin Laden this week as opposed to last week, has soared. Following the arrest of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, bin Laden must now be concerned that Mohammed might decide to talk and possibly hint as to his location," a senior western intelligence source said yesterday.
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