Where in the world is bin Laden?

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden uses misdirection, look-alike decoys and fake caravans to foil pursuit. He is thought to have moved around Afghanistan hidden in an ambulance.

U.S. intelligence officials believe bin Laden has remained in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan since Sept. 11, the day jetliner hijackers allegedly sent by bin Laden attacked the United States. The officials are worried now, however, that bin Laden may be planning to leave for Chechnya, Somalia or Sudan — all war-torn, relatively lawless areas like Afghanistan where he can again hide.

His mobility is both a defense and a vulnerability, said Sen. Richard Shelby, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"If he’s moving from post to post, place to place, cave to cave, town to town, sooner or later, we’re going to find him," said Shelby, R-Ala.

Sen. Bob Graham, the committee’s chairman, said this week that he has information that makes him confident bin Laden will be found and captured or killed before mid-November. Like Shelby, the Florida Democrat receives classified briefings from U.S. intelligence agencies.

In general, bin Laden is believed to move frequently among his al-Qaida terrorist camps and deep caves honeycombing the mountain ranges that crisscross Afghanistan. He’s usually with one or more of his wives, sometimes with some senior lieutenants, always with a security force. He normally stays out of cities and away from the Taliban’s front lines with the rebels of the northern alliance.

If he has held to those routines, bin Laden probably is in southern or eastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban’s hold is strongest.

As the hunt for the No. 1 terror suspects continues, U.S. officials won’t say for the record whether they believe bin Laden is moving or has hunkered down in one location for the past five weeks.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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