NEW YORK, Nov 30: The United States believes that Osama bin Laden was probably hiding in the Tora Bora area of eastern Afghanistan.

In an interview with ABC’s news programme Primetime Thursday US vice-president Dick Cheney said he believed Osama was hiding in Tora Bora.

Cheney also said that Ahmed Omar Abdel Rahman, a guerrilla training leader for Osama believed captured by the Northern Alliance, was the type of suspect that could face trial before a US military tribunal.

According to reports Osama has built a fortress at Tora Bora 1,150 feet beneath the mountains, equipped with water, electricity and ventilation and guarded by hundreds or thousands of fighters.

Cheney said the US government had a “credible report” from the Northern Alliance that it had captured Rahman, the 35-year- old son of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who with nine other militants was convicted on charges stemming from the deadly 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.