Pakistani and U.S. forces were searching for al Qaeda members on Friday in a mountainous area near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran amid persistent reports that Osama bin Laden could be in the vicinity. Residents in the remote region said leaflets were dropped there on Thursday offering rewards for the capture of bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. President Pervez Musharraf said bin Laden seemed to be alive but added he was unlikely to be in Pakistan, where suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested last weekend. Officers of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps told Reuters Pakistani forces had launched an operation on Thursday, involving a few Americans, in pursuit of al Qaeda suspects in the Ribat region, where the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran meet. But, Pakistani and U.S. officials rejected reports that a new operation was under way specifically targeting bin Laden. The arrest of Mohammed raised hopes that interrogators could get leads on the location of the world’s most-wanted man, who has evaded U.S. forces since a U.S. bombing campaign against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001. Full Story
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