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Bin Laden hiding in border mountains, claims ex-Taliban militant |
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Written by NotOverYet
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Sunday, 18 November 2007 |
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Swat Valley, 15 Nov. (AKI) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in
the remote mountains on the Afghani-Pakistani border and moving constantly to
avoid detection by intelligence agencies, according to a Taliban sympathiser.
Ahmad Farooq, a Pakistani Pashtun has told the Italian daily, Corriere della
Sera, that bin Laden had been moving from village to village in the area from
Chitral to the "corridor of Waqan", the mountainous Hindu Kush region of
Pakistan bordering Tajikstan and China.
It is a rare account of bin Laden's life since he masterminded the 9/11
attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. But it is impossible to verify the
accuracy of the account.
Farooq told the Italian daily's magazine, that bin Laden was surrounded by
about 20 armed men and he moved whenever he felt particularly threatened.
"There are always 20 armed men with him, free from satellite telephones so
that they did not risk detection by the Americans," he told the newspaper.
"Not far from him there are two other similar groups that move in parallel.
Osama passes from one to the other often many times in a week. No-one knows
which group he is with at any time."
Farooq said bin Laden had also managed to hide in the Pakistan-China border
area of Karakorum, an uninhabited remote area, because it is guarded by
Chinese troops.
"He lives like a monk," Farooq said. "His health is not good. He is 50 years
old. But he looks much older. He relies continutally on medicine for his weak
kidneys and has a breathing apparatus.
"He almost died a few years ago from bronchitis that developed into
pneumonia."
Farooq conducted the interview in Imam Dheray, in the Swat Valley where there
has been widespread bloody conflict between the Pakistani security forces
and the fugitive rebel leader and radical cleric, Mullah Fazlullah, and his
supporters in recent weeks.
Farooq said he decided to speak to the newspaper since he felt indebted to
Italian members of the Red Cross who had come to the aid of him and other
members of the Taliban when thousands were killed and injured in the US offensive
in Afghanistan in 2001.
He said Fazlullah had been with them and had commanded 11,000 Pakistani
volunteers in the fighting.
Farooq gave many details about where bin Laden had been since September 11
2001 - hiding in the Afghan province of Khost until it became too dangerous for
him.
Then, he said, the al-Qaeda leader moved to the Chitral region, in northern
Pakistan.
"I saw him for the last time on 17 September 2003 not far from Dir, my
village, " he said. "His caravan was moving slowly. They told me he was not well.
They didn't seem worried about being detected by the Americans.
"Instead, they were looking for medicines and a warm place for the night. In
that area winter arrives early. With the first snow fall the passes are
closed at more than 4,000 metres and you have to wait for spring.
"I think they only went to China in summer, when the paths are clear."
A senior official from NATO's security services told the Italian daily's
magazine such an account of bin Laden's activities was "quite possible".
He said "We believe he remained in the mountains in the zones of Chitral and
Swat. The detail about China was however new." |
