WASHINGTON, Aug 26: US forces in Afghanistan came so close to discovering Osama bin Laden in the winter of 2004-05 that his supporters were on the verge of killing him to prevent his capture, Newsweek reported on Sunday.

Osama’s entourage, ordered to kill the Al Qaeda chief and themselves to avoid capture, were about to take the action using a special code word when nearby US troops moved off in a different direction, the magazine said.

“If there’s a 99 per cent risk of the sheikh being captured, he told his men that they should all die and martyr him as well,” Newsweek quoted Egyptian Al Qaeda operative Sheikh Said as telling Taliban official Omar Farooqi.

The near-miss occurred in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it reported.—AFP