Bin Laden lurks in Corridor
2001-10-02 08:44
Islamabad - United States special forces are hunting for Osama bin Laden in northeastern Afghanistan's isolated Pamir mountains, a Pakistani press report said on Tuesday quoting "highly reliable sources".
The News said bin Laden had dug himself and 1 000 followers into a former Soviet base in the Wakhan Corridor, the "pan handle" of Afghanistan where the borders of Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan and Pakistan meet.
It said the Taliban had thrown decoys in the south of the
country to create the illusion that bin Laden was hiding out near
Kandahar or Uruzgan in the southern Taliban heartland, while he was busy rehabilitating a former Soviet base.
From Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the area can only be
reached by travelling through opposition held territory or through northern Pakistan.
The report said the base was situated near the village of Buzi
Gunbad, and nestled between the towering peaks of the Pamir
mountains, which rise to an altitude of more than 7 500 metres.
The News said Russia - which had annexed the Wakhan corridor
during the 1980s - had given the United States detailed maps of
the area.
The area is one of Afghanistan's most sparsely populated
regions, and home to several groups of ethnic Kirghiz nomads and
small Ismaili Muslim communities. - Sapa/AFP
- SAPA