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Bin Laden`s top commander injured
Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, considered Osama Bin Laden`s deputy, was injured in an American air raid, a provincial military chief said Tuesday.
Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, considered Osama Bin Laden's deputy, was injured in an American air raid, a provincial military chief said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Afghan militia forces have begun deploying around the mountain lair of Osama Bin Laden known as Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, the local military commander said Tuesday.
Osama Bin Laden has apparently asked an anti-Taliban commander not to launch attacks on a particular complex of caves and tunnels in Tora Bora, the CNN has said.
Nangarhar provincial commander Haji Mohammad Zaman earlier said Bin Laden, wanted for a range of terrorist attacks against US interests including the September 11 atrocities, was in the remote and rugged area.
Also targeted in the operation are hundreds of Bin Laden supporters, mainly Arabs, who were given the chance to depart peacefully but refused, Zaman said.
"We started to move people today," he told reporters here in the Nangarhar capital about 50 kilometres north of the Tora Bora, which lies near the Pakistani border.
"They must surround the place where the Arabs are living here. We need to send there around four thousand people."
He said that once the area had been surrounded, an attack could be launched in "maybe two, three days".
Zaman, appointed to the post last month following the withdrawal of the Taliban militia from the north of the country, said Monday that US special forces troops had been in Jalalabad for more than a week.
He said US helicopters had also landed on Sunday night.
US warplanes have been hammering the Tora Bora cave complex where Bin Laden and his mainly Arab disciples are believed to have an elaborate hideout.
The Tora Bora area was established by the Afghan mujahedin guerrillas during the the 1979-89 Soviet invasion. It is believed to be well-stocked with supplies and defended by hundreds of fanatical Islamic militants.
Meanwhile, Afghan militia forces have begun deploying around the mountain lair of Osama Bin Laden known as Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, the local military commander said Tuesday.
Osama Bin Laden has apparently asked an anti-Taliban commander not to launch attacks on a particular complex of caves and tunnels in Tora Bora, the CNN has said.
Nangarhar provincial commander Haji Mohammad Zaman earlier said Bin Laden, wanted for a range of terrorist attacks against US interests including the September 11 atrocities, was in the remote and rugged area.
Also targeted in the operation are hundreds of Bin Laden supporters, mainly Arabs, who were given the chance to depart peacefully but refused, Zaman said.
"We started to move people today," he told reporters here in the Nangarhar capital about 50 kilometres north of the Tora Bora, which lies near the Pakistani border.
"They must surround the place where the Arabs are living here. We need to send there around four thousand people."
He said that once the area had been surrounded, an attack could be launched in "maybe two, three days".
Zaman, appointed to the post last month following the withdrawal of the Taliban militia from the north of the country, said Monday that US special forces troops had been in Jalalabad for more than a week.
He said US helicopters had also landed on Sunday night.
US warplanes have been hammering the Tora Bora cave complex where Bin Laden and his mainly Arab disciples are believed to have an elaborate hideout.
The Tora Bora area was established by the Afghan mujahedin guerrillas during the the 1979-89 Soviet invasion. It is believed to be well-stocked with supplies and defended by hundreds of fanatical Islamic militants.