Musharraf says strong possibility bin Laden dead

23 Dec, 2001 04:02 AM3 mins to read

11.30 am

BEIJING - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said today there is a strong possibility that Osama bin Laden has been killed during the US bombing of the Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan.

"There is the great possibility that he may have lost his life there," Musharraf told China's state television in an interview.

"Maybe he is dead because of all the operations that have been conducted, the bombardment of all the caves that have been conducted," said Musharraf, who was on a visit to China.

He said Pakistan was still keeping a close watch on its border with Afghanistan and that if bin Laden was found he would be handed over to the Americans.

Washington, which accuses bin Laden of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States, launched heavy bombing raids on Tora Bora this month and destroyed a stronghold of bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Many al Qaeda fighters fled toward the nearby Pakistan border and some were arrested by Pakistani security forces, but there has been no sign of bin Laden.

The United States has said it does not know his whereabouts but has vowed to pursue him until he is captured or killed.

Asked if Pakistan would hand over bin Laden to the United States if he was found in the country, Musharraf said: "Yes, we will certainly hand him over. He is not in Pakistan, that we are reasonably sure, but we can't be 100 per cent sure.

"And if he does enter, if we identify him, he will be handed over."

Musharraf said Pakistani soldiers had sealed off eight high, and now snow-covered, passes from Tora Bora into Pakistan.

Yesterday, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, declined to speculate on whether bin Laden was dead.

"I don't know where he is. I'd rather not speculate if he's alive," Myers said.

Washington put a $25 million bounty on bin Laden's head for the September 11 attacks which killed more than 3,000 people.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that US bombs had driven hundreds of al Qaeda fighters from their hideouts, leaving a potential treasure of intelligence information.

He said US troops had begun searching the cave network in the Tora Bora mountains and that more US and allied forces would be sent to hunt for guerrillas and intelligence.

Dozens of US special forces soldiers have been in the Tora Bora region for several weeks, helping anti-Taleban Afghan fighters and directing air strikes against caves and tunnels.

- REUTERS

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