August 21, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-us-Sani 22, 1424

WASHINGTON: A sudden increase in Taliban and Al Qaeda attacks in Afghanistan this week has revived the United States media’s interest in the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.

Reports published in newspapers and magazines like the Washington Post and New Yorker also claim that the Al Qaeda leader might have been injured in US attacks. All such reports are based mainly on information collected by American intelligence agencies from various sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

According to these reports, CIA believes that Osama bin Laden is most likely hiding somewhere along the 1,500-mile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He is always on the move, with the help of tribal leaders, to avoid capture. He travels at night, and does not communicate by phone, radio or walkie-talkie. Instead, he communicates via handwritten notes carried around by his trusted men. He stopped sending oral instructions after his men misinterpreted some of them.

There are several layers of security around him to prevent a possible assassination attempt. There’s an outer ring of loyal villagers, a second ring of tribal leaders and an inner ring of personal aides and bodyguards. His bodyguards, who are assumed to include as many as five of his sons, have vowed to “martyr” their father rather than allow him to be taken alive.

Although Osama was believed to have had hundreds of soldiers with him when he escaped to the tribal areas after the American bombardment of Afghanistan, most experts think that he is now nearly alone. He is said, however, to keep in touch with his inner circle.

Recently, the US media also published details of a recent Taliban meeting in the tribal area, which was attended by Mullah Omar. The report quoted Mullah Omar as saying that he was travelling with Osama in Pakistan.