Bin Laden 'boxed in'

US and British special forces have cornered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a mountainous area in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, the Sunday Express newspaper reported yesterday.

Quoting "a US intelligence source", it said bin Laden and "up to 50 fanatical henchmen" were inside an area 16km wide and deep "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta".

"He is boxed in," the unidentified source was quoted by the tabloid as saying, adding that US special forces were "absolutely confident" that he could not escape.