Osama Still On The Run

TORA BORA, Sunday - Some 2,000 al-Qaeda fighters were reportedly on the run after being driven from their last stronghold in Afghanistan, but the whereabouts of their leader, Osama bin Laden, remained a mystery. US officials conceded they did not know where the Saudi-born extremist leader was, but said they were confident he would eventually be captured. The world’s most-wanted man managed to escape as al-Qaeda fighters were flushed out of a network of caves and tunnels in the White Mountains near the border with Pakistan, Afghan commander Haji Mohammad Zaman said. Other commanders said bin Laden may be in Pakistan. One Pakistani newspaper said he was in Iran. Intensive fighting at Tora Bora left about 200 al-Qaeda fighters dead, and 2,000 more on the run, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a visit to Afghanistan. He said a top al-Qaeda commander was among those captured. Rumsfeld, the highest ranking US official to visit Afghanistan in more than two decades, spoke after meeting officials of the new Afghan government at the Bagram air field outside Kabul. For almost a month, the Tora Bora region between Jalalabad and the Pakistani border has been the main focus of the US hunt for bin Laden, who is accused of masterminding the September 11 suicide attacks on the US. Pakistani newspapers said the 44-year-old bin Laden was spirited away while his men held surrender talks with Afghan forces last week. But some reports indicated bin Laden was heard directing troops in Tora Bora on short-wave radio. “There’s some information that suggests he might still be there, and he might have gotten across the border. We don’t know. But you can be sure he is under hot pursuit,” US Secretary of State Colin Powell told Fox News on Sunday. AFP Ends