Bin Laden Top Chiefs Captured

KABUL, Friday - The reported capture of senior leaders of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network boosted hopes on Friday of bringing to justice the suspected mastermind of September’s terror attacks on the United States. With bin Laden’s Taliban protectors cornered in their southern stronghold of Kandahar, Washington believes the Saudi-born dissident is running out of friends, time and places to hide. “We are tightening the noose,” said Army General Tommy Franks, the commander of the US military campaign in Afghanistan. A Pentagon official said in Washington on Thursday there was reason to believe anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces had captured some senior al-Qaeda leaders who might provide clues to bin Laden’s whereabouts. “They are senior enough to provide some meaningful information,” the official said. Meanwhile, Mohammed Atef, a top lieutenant to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin laden, is believed to have been killed in a US air strike near Kabul, a US official said on Friday. “We believe that did occur,” the official, speaking anonymously, said. Citing reports of action on Thursday, the official said an airstrike near Kabul likely killed Atef, believed to have trained the terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks. The official said Atef was one of bin Laden’s closest confidantes, along with Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahairi. “This guy was considered a deputy and a military specialist for bin Laden,” said the official. Further intelligence could be gleaned once Kandahar eventually falls. The southern city is home to the Taliban’s headquarters and the militia’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. With the Taliban in disarray and Kabul in the hands of the Northern Alliance, the focus of the US military campaign is now centred firmly on its prime objective — the capture of bin Laden dead or alive and the destruction of the al-Qaeda network. Bin Laden himself has said he believes the Americans will kill him sooner or later and that he would rather die than be handed over into US custody. AFP Ends