Bin Laden hiding 'in northern Pakistan'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bin Laden hiding 'in northern Pakistan'*
From correspondents in Kabul, Afghanistan
May 28, 2008 05:15am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
A TOP Afghan intelligence official said today his agency received
information several months ago that al-Qaeda figurehead Osama bin Laden
is hiding in northern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
The official said that bin Laden was said to be in a mountainous region
in Chitral, a Pakistani region facing Afghanistan's eastern province of
Kunar.
Pakistani officials have in the past said that the world's most wanted
man was hiding in Kunar, a claim strongly rejected by Kabul.
"We've received new information that he is hiding in Chitral. We got the
information about his presence in that area about four, five months
ago," the Afghan intelligence official said.
US authorities have previously also said that the fugitive al-Qaeda
chief had taken refuge in Chitral and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad
Omar is also in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Thousands of US and NATO soldiers are based in Afghanistan hunting for
the pair and fighting back an al-Qaeda-backed insurgency the Taliban
launched after they were ousted from government in 2001.
Al-Arabiya television reported last week that Pakistani sources had said
US and Afghan officials had discussed launching military operations in
Pakistan's northern areas in light of information that bin Laden was there.