KABUL, March 6: US-led forces in Afghanistan have killed nine suspected militants and captured 14 others in two separate operations in southeastern Afghanistan, a US military spokesman said on Saturday.

The nine suspected Taliban fighters were killed on Friday near a coalition base in the town of Orgun near the Pakistani border when they "attempted to flank" the base, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty told journalists in Kabul.

"Friday, a platoon-sized enemy unit attempted to flank a coalition position east of Orgun," he said.

"We engaged the unit, killing nine anti-coalition militia," Hilferty said, adding that there were no coalition casualty during the clash.

OSAMA ESCAPES: Fugitive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden recently escaped a sweep by Pakistani troops hunting for Taliban fighters and is hiding near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, an Afghan official said on Saturday.

Haji Abdullah, head of the Pashir Wa Agam district, south of the Afghan town of Jalalabad said he had recently spoken to a former leader of the ousted Taliban regime who said Osama had made an appeal for a safe house.

"Four days ago, I met a former Taliban leader from Peshawar who told me he had received a fax sent from a satellite telephone and signed 'the Sheikh', the title used to denote Osama bin Laden," Abdullah said.

"The fax said that the Sheikh was safe and sound, that he had managed to escape an operation led by the Pakistani army in South Waziristan and that he had found refuge in a place on the border," he added.

"Another Taliban source told me that Osama bin Laden had asked Taliban leaders to meet urgently in Quetta to try to find him a safe place to hide out," Abdullah said.-AFP