WASHINGTON, Sept 10: The hunt for Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been narrowed to a 64-square-kilometre area in Pakistan, the US media reported on Wednesday.

The reports said that US and Pakistani authorities are casting a net around the towns of Angoor Ada and Wana in southern Waziristan, an area with a strong Al Qaeda support base.

Authorities have received new information from electronic intercepts and intelligence on the ground that shows Osama is very much alive, somewhere in the rugged terrain of Waziristan.

US special forces are stationed across the border in Afghanistan with approximately 45 checkpoints should Osama head there, but authorities said there are many unfrequented routes and it is impossible to seal the entire border.

Special forces in Afghanistan, however, are not as specialized as they once were, US officials told ABC News.

This specifically hurts the hunt because in order to deploy intelligence resources to collect information on Osama, the US needs Arabic speakers.