The U.S. hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the rugged border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is hampered by unfriendly locals, a quarry constantly on the move and a network that is savvy to tracking techniques, key U.S. lawmakers say. After a stretch of uncertainty about whether bin Laden had survived extensive U.S. bombing of the Afghan mountains following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, U.S. officials are now generally convinced he is alive. A recent audiotape broadcast by Qatar-based al Jazeera television was determined by CIA technical analysis to be “almost certainly” the voice of bin Laden, probably recorded in the past several weeks, officials said. The hunt goes on. U.S. officials believe the man who has a $25 million bounty on his head is holed up in a remote mountainous region, possibly in Konar Province in northeastern Afghanistan or across the border in Pakistan. “We’re operating in a terrain that is very hostile,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss said. Full Story
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