PESHAWAR, Dec 10: Pakistan began troops deployment along part of its border with Afghanistan to plug possible escape routes of Osama bin Laden as anti-Taliban fighters captured his key base in eastern Afghanistan.

“The troops deployment has begun along our borders with Afghanistan to plug possible escape routes of Osama bin Laden and his associates from Afghanistan,” a senior government official told Dawn.

He said that roughly two brigades of over 4,000 force of Pakistan army, backed-up by the Frontier Corps paramilitary and the tribal Khasadars had been mobilized for deployment along a stretch of mountainous region straddling along the Pakistan- Afghan border. “The process is on,” the official said.

The deployment, he said, would be made along a 40-km stretch of arduous border running from Sad Sobi Kandao in the inaccessible Terah in the tribal Khyber Agency to Agam Kandao in the northeast in Kurram Agency that touches Spin Ghar (White Mountains) in the neighbouring Afghanistan. “There are passes in the region which are passable and we want to block every inch of it,” the official said.

One official, familiar with the area, said that Pakistan had access to vantage point on this side of the border that gave it strategic advantage to observe the underlying area in Afghanistan. “With effective deployment, we should be able to block the escape routes,” he said.

For the first time since Pakistan’s independence, troops have been deployed in a hitherto administratively inaccessible tribal area along the Afghan border.

Pakistan has heightened security along its borders with Afghanistan after reports that Osama may attempt to sneak into Pakistan.

Apart from ground troops deployment, aerial surveillance was also being conducted to lookout for infiltration, the official said.

Eyewitnesses in the area said that US B-52 bombers were seen flying well inside the Pakistani territory bordering Afghanistan.

Officials here said that the US Special Services forces has combed Kandahar and Helmand to track down the elusive Saudi militant and is now concentrating on the Tora Bora mountainous region in the foothills of Spin Ghar range, 56km to the south of Nangarhar’s provincial capital, Jalalabad.

Osama had set up his first base in Tora Bora, a naturally fortified mountainous base upon his return to Afghanistan in May 1996. Anti-Taliban commanders say there are over one thousand Arabs, Chechens, Chinese Uighurs and Pakistani militants holed up in caves and bunkers.

The US Vice-President Dick Cheney said last week he believed the Al Qaeda head was hiding in eastern Afghanistan.

CIA Director George J. Tenet undertook a secret visit to Afghanistan while on a visit to Pakistan to assess reports of Osama’s presence in the region.

Pakistani government officials, however, are sceptical. “There is no indication to suggest that Osama is there,” said an official.

But government officials say that tribal apprehensions had been allayed. “There is no objection from their side. They know that it is for a special purpose and that the troops would be withdrawn as soon as objectives were achieved”, secretary home and tribal affairs, Javed Iqbal said.