US warplanes resumed bombing in the Tora Bora region after a pause of a few days and American and Afghan forces continued to scour the caves and tunnels for any sign of Osama bin Laden amid fresh reports that the terrorist mastermind might have died natural death in his mountain hideout. In signs of resistance by some wounded al-Qaeda fighters, ten of them refused to give up after a shoot out with anti-Taliban forces at a hospital in Kandahar but a few others surrendered. There were no reports of deaths or injuries in the skirmish at Mirwaiz hospital amid conflicting reports over whether the American troops got involved. A fresh group of 1,000 multinational peacekeepers landed at Kandahar airport which was on a heightened state of alert after officials said that they had information about a possible threat during the Christmas holiday. The day appeared to be incident free with no signs of any attack reported. A Taliban leader, who was not identified, said in an interview with the 'Pakistan Observer' that bin Laden was suffering from a serious lung complications and died due to lack of adequate treatment. There was no immediate reaction from the US about this development. The possible death of bin Laden was gaining currency since Monday with a spokesman in Islamabad for the US-led military coalition saying that bin Laden may have been killed in the heavy air assault on the eastern Tora Bora region where he was thought to be hiding in a maze of tunnels. Bureau Report