02 November 2004	Tuesday	18 Ramazan 1425

NEW YORK, Nov 1: US intelligence agents recently thought they were on the verge of a breakthrough in the search for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday.

The magazine quoted United States officials as saying that "just a few weeks ago" the net was closing on an Al Qaeda operative in Pakistan who, it was hoped, could lead them to Osama.

"It looked like we were really close, maybe one or two people away," the magazine quoted one official as saying. "There was a lot of optimism around here."

The magazine did not say what went wrong with the operation to catch Osama.-Reuters