Hunt for Osama now moves to Yemen
Elite SAS troops are now searching for him in a lawless region in Yemen where the tribesmen are fiercely loyal to him
straitstimes.asia1.com.sg
LONDON - Osama bin Laden is alive but where is he?
It appears the focus of the manhunt has dramatically shifted over the past few weeks from Afghanistan and Pakistan's border areas to the lawless tribal region of Hadhra Maug in south-east Yemen, where his father was born.
One British newspaper reported that elite SAS troops were now hunting for the elusive Al-Qaeda leader in the region.
The revelation that the world's most wanted man is thought to be in Yemen comes in the wake of a taped message by him broadcast last Tuesday and authenticated by language experts showing that he is still alive, although probably in ill-health.
Evidence that he had not died during the sustained US bombings of the Tora Bora caves last December came as little surprise to intelligence agents involved in the search.
They now believe that Osama may never have been at Tora Bora, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
The newspaper said that instead he may have fled Afghanistan last November travelling along opium traffickers' routes through eastern Iran then down through the desert of Baluchistan in Pakistan to the port of Gwador, an area mostly off-limits to foreigners.
He is then thought to have travelled by traditional dhow across the Arabian Sea to Oman and on to Yemen and the protection of the tribesmen of the Hadhra Maug, who are fiercely loyal to his family and have long waged war with the government in Sanaa.
An American official told The Sunday Telegraph: 'We left too many windows.
'We could not seal the border with Pakistan and we failed to monitor shipping particularly in those early days'.
The newspaper said that the US Defence Department has treated the latest information about Osama's whereabouts along with other similar reports as credible, a position made clear when it recently shifted several of Predator drones to Djibouti to spy on Yemen.
Yemen was already one of the countries where Al-Qaeda was thought to be regrouping most actively.
The country - just as Afghanistan was when Osama made it his base - is a largely lawless place where the government exerts little control, and is thus perfect territory for his men.
The tribesmen of the Hadhra Maug are said to be fiercely loyal to Osama's clan as well as extremely hostile to Westerners, and some members were involved in the bombing of the American warship USS Cole in Aden harbour two years ago, in which 17 sailors died.
To deepen the ties, Al-Qaeda members have been marrying local tribesmen's daughters just as they did in Afghanistan.
Bush administration officials acknowledge that Osama's tape may be a sign that Al-Qaeda is planning another wave of attacks against US and other Western targets, the New York Times reported.
The release of the tape has come at the same time that there has been a surge in intercepted communications among suspected Al-Qaeda operatives around the world, another indication that the organisation may be about to launch fresh strikes.
The CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) detected similar surges in 'chatter' prior to other major terrorist attacks, including the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Republican Senator Richard Shelby, who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Monday that he thought it was possible that the new audiotape contained hidden messages for Al-Qaeda operatives, perhaps providing directives for new attacks.
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String of terror attacks
In his latest message, Osama referred to a string of terror attacks carried out since Sept 11 last year. They included:
Oct 8: Kuwaiti island of Failaka. Two Kuwaiti civilians fire on US Marines, killing one and wounding another.
May 8: Karachi, Pakistan. Suicide car bomber kills 11 French navy experts and two Pakistanis.
Oct 12: Indonesian island of Bali. Bombings at nightclubs kill at least 180.
Oct 23-26: Moscow, Russia. Chechen gunmen hold several hundred hostages inside theatre. |
