Osama bin Laden is personally leading about 1,000 fighters defending his mountain strongholds in eastern Afghanistan, a Northern Alliance spokesman said on Sunday. Mohammad Amin speaking on a satellite telephone from Jalalabad said that anti-Taliban forces had pushed bin Laden`s al Qaeda fighters out of their bases in the cave-riddled Tora Bora heights and were attacking them in nearby forests.

"Osama himself has taken the command of the fighting. He, along with around 1,000 of his people, including some Taliban officials, have now dug themselves into the forests of Spin Ghar after we overran all their bases in Tora Bora," Amin said.
"He (bin Laden) is here for sure. The American planes have been carrying out regular and severe bombings to kill him," he said, adding that at least one of the Saudi-born militant`s Arab fighters had been killed in "very intense" fighting.
There was no independent confirmation of Amin`s account. Bureau Report