Laden Cave Identified

LONDON - Friday, An American geologist believes alleged terror chief Osama bin Laden may be hiding in standstone caves in southeastern Afghanistan, after studying rock formations in one of his videos, Britain’s Times reported Friday. John Ford Shroder has told US officials that he recognised the rock strata behind bin Laden in a video broadcast in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Shroder, a professor at the University of Nebraska, who has spent years in Afghanistan, said the type of sedimentary rock in the images was only found in the Paktia and Paktika provinces. “I turned to my wife and told her, ‘I know where he is’,” The Times quoted him as saying. He said it would make sense for bin Laden, chief suspect for the September 11 attacks, to hide in that region, as it is rugged and dotted with caves. The area is also populated by the Pashtuns, an ethnic group fiercely loyal to Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime. The Times said Shroder’s evidence had been backed up by a British geologist called Allan Rogers and it cited a British military source as saying that the information had been examined in the hunt for the Saudi-born billionaire. The Taliban militia hinted on Friday at a fresh peace plan to end the US bombing of Afghanistan as its count of civilian deaths passed the 500 mark for the first time. Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef said he had brought a “ceasefire plan” from Taliban leaders after a trip to the Islamic militia’s southern stronghold of Kandahar, the main target of the US-led air raids. Speaking to reporters at the Pakistani border town of Quetta before his departure to Islamabad for talks with Pakistani officials, Zaeef said he had met Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar to discuss a ceasefire plan. “I will go to Islamabad to meet the Pakistanis and after that I will declare in a press conference the purpose of my visit to Kandahar,” he said. He later told AFP in Islamabad that the proposal was “secret” and refused to say which Pakistani officials he would meet. “I have come with special proposals from Kandahar but it is a secret,” he said. The radical Islamic militia, under heavy US-led military attack for its refusal to hand over bin Laden, has repeatedly called for negotiations but its appeals have been rejected by Washington. US President George W. Bush last week offered the Taliban a “second chance” if they extradited bin Laden. The ambassador also said the civilian death toll after 13 days of bombings was more than 500, although only about 20 deaths have been independently confirmed. But the Taliban leadership were well, he added. “Alhamdullilah (thank God), Amir-ul-Momineen (Omar), Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leadership are safe and alive,” he said. Washington has rejected the Taliban’s claims of civilian casualties as exaggerated. Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan later told a press conference the ambassador had made no contact to request a meeting, while other Pakistani officials expressed doubt about Zaeef’s proposals. The bombings continued in Kandahar, the capital Kabul and the city of Jalalabad on Friday, although reports said they were lighter than usual possibly in deference to the Muslim holy day. The al-Jazeera Arab satellite television news channel said “eight civilians were killed in a US air strike on two buses in Kandahar” early Friday. A correspondent said the air strikes were “increasingly targeting civilian houses and mosques, where (the US) believes that Taliban leaders are hiding,” added the report. Zaeef dismissed rumours of a rift among the militia. “This is hearsay,” he said. Ends