Bin Laden 'surrounded'

[igloo]

Bin Laden 'surrounded'

February 22, 2004

A BRITISH Sunday newspaper is claiming Osama bin Laden has been found and is surrounded by US special forces in an area of land bordering north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Sunday Express, known for its sometimes colourful scoops, claims the al-Qaeda leader has been "sighted" for the first time since 2001 and is being monitored by satellite.

The paper claims he is in a mountainous area to the north of the Pakistani city of Quetta. The region is said to be peopled with bin Laden supporters and the terrorist leader is estimated to also have 50 of his fanatical bodyguards with him.

The claim is attributed to "a well-placed intelligence source" in Washington, who is quoted as saying: "He (bin Laden) is boxed in."

The paper says the hostile terrain makes an all-out conventional military assault impossible. The plan to capture him would depend on a "grab-him-and-go" style operation.

"US helicopters already sited on the Afghanistan border will swoop in to extricate him," the newspaper says. It claims bin Laden and his men "sleep in caves or out in the open. The area is swept by fierce snow storms howling down from the 10,000ft-high mountain peaks. Donkeys are the only transport."

The special forces are "absolutely confident" there is no escape for bin Laden, and are awaiting the order to go in and get him.

"The timing of that order will ultimately depend on President Bush," the paper says. "Capturing bin Laden will certainly be a huge help for him as he gets ready for the election."

The article says bin Laden's movements are monitored by a National Security Agency satellite.

On Thursday last week, General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said America had been engaged in "intense" efforts to capture bin Laden, who was believed to be hiding in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But he insisted that the focus of the search had not narrowed for months.

The Sunday Telegraph

[djxeno]

I think he's already caught.

[igloo]

Originally posted by djxeno

I think he's already caught.

I doubt he is actually caught, but certainlt something is up, because there has been way too much "confident" chatter in the press...

[mrmatas2277]

Originally posted by djxeno

I think he's already caught.

AGAIN...i hope so....

[igloo]

U.S., Pakistan Deny They're Closing in on Osama

Email this story

Feb 23, 8:08 AM (ET)

By Mike Collett-White and David Brunnstrom

KABUL/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's whereabouts remain a mystery to U.S. and Pakistani forces as they crank up efforts to flush out al Qaeda and Taliban rebels hiding near Afghanistan's eastern frontier, officials said on Monday.

U.S. military officials in Kabul have boldly predicted his capture in 2004, and Britain's Sunday Express weekly reported that the world's most wanted man was "boxed in" by U.S. and British special forces in the rugged Pakistani mountains along the Afghan border.

The newspaper said bin Laden was within a 10 mile by 10 mile area, being monitored by a U.S. spy satellite.

"As far as the reports of Osama bin Laden's location, I don't take much credence in them because if we knew where he was in Afghanistan, we would go get him and if the Pakistanis knew where he was in Pakistan they would go get him," U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty said.

"We continue to have rumors over the past two years," he told a news briefing in Kabul, when asked about speculation that bin Laden had been spotted.

Pakistani officials dismissed the report that located bin Laden in mountains north of the Pakistani city of Quetta.

"That area is in Pakistan but there is nothing there, life is absolutely normal -- you can go and see," said Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan. "There is no operation being conducted there and there are no foreign troops there."

NOT ABOUT INDIVIDUALS

Hilferty distanced himself from recent remarks he made that he was "sure" bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would be caught this year, reverting to past U.S. statements that the "war on terror" was not only about catching individuals.

"Obviously the global war on terrorism is about much more than a person or two people, it is about terrorism against people in general," he said.

He also indicated that a planned spring offensive against Islamic militants was little different from previous operations carried out by the 10,600-strong American-led force in Afghanistan.

Most operations have failed to net large numbers of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters or top leaders, prompting U.S. officers in Afghanistan to announce a shift in tactics to civilian-military teams deploying in lawless regions to oversee reconstruction.

In Pakistan, Sultan described an operation in the semi-autonomous South Waziristan agency, where al Qaeda fighters are thought to be hiding with the support of sympathetic locals, as "absolutely normal."

Pakistani troops working alongside tribal forces plan to carry out searches where they suspect al Qaeda guerrillas may be hiding, after tribesmen were urged by the authorities to give up militants they may be sheltering.

"This cordon and search operation will specifically be against foreigners whenever we get any information that X,Y,Z is in that house," said South Waziristan's top government official, Mohammad Azam Khan.

"The tribal maliks (chiefs) would be present and the whole operation would be conducted according to the rules and traditions of the tribal area," he told the private Geo channel.

Political authorities which deal with the fiercely independent and well-armed tribesmen have asked tribal leaders to surrender more than 80 clan members wanted for harboring or assisting al Qaeda militants.

So far more than 40 tribesmen have been handed over by local leaders, but authorities say they have lost patience with tribal elders after several key suspects escaped.

U.S. and Afghan forces have often complained that militants evading capture in Afghanistan have been able to flee into Pakistan and hide. They also say that a bloody insurgency linked to the Taliban has been launched from Pakistani territory.

[jamiroguy1]

Originally posted by djxeno

I think he's already caught.

I do too. I've been saying this for awhile now.