PARIS, March 22: International forces recently found a location where Osama bin Laden is thought to have taken refuge, according to French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.

She said in an interview to be published on Tuesday that French troops operating near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan had helped trace Osama but did not say where, how wide an area she was referring to or whether he was still there.

A ministry spokesman said Alliot-Marie was referring to the discovery of a location where Osama was believed to have been "at a certain time" and it was not clear where he was now.

"Our men are well established and know the terrain well. Thanks to certain information, they were recently able to make an effective contribution to locating him," Alliot-Marie told Express magazine in an interview released before publication. Asked whether the man located was definitely bin Laden, she replied: "Everything leads us to think so. "-Reuters