Pakistani and American forces intensified the search for Osama bin Laden along a southwestern stretch of the border with Afghanistan and carried out raids this week based on information from a newly captured al-Qaida deputy, Pakistani intelligence and military officials said Thursday. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, thought to be the No. 3 figure in the terror network, told interrogators he met bin Laden just weeks ago in a rendezvous set up through a network of phone calls and intermediaries, an intelligence official said. At least two raids have been carried out in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan region based on information from Mohammed since his capture last weekend, another Pakistani intelligence official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. There were no major arrests from the raids, the official said. Telephone numbers taken from Mohammed’s mobile phone are being tracked. The phone contained numbers inside and outside Pakistan, said a government official. “The people he contacted in Pakistan have naturally been put under surveillance and we suspect the American agencies are doing the same,” the official said. Since Mohammed’s arrest, joint Pakistani and U.S. forces have been searching for bin Laden and his son, Saad, along the 350-mile stretch of border from the Baluchistan town of Chaman to the Iranian border, a Pakistan military source said. Full Story
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