http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2005-daily/14-06-2005/main/update.shtml
Musharraf says Osama bin Laden still alive (Updated at 1320 PST) CANBERRA: Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is alive and probably living in the rugged mountains bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday.
Speaking during a three-day visit to Australia to promote counter-terrorism cooperation and increased trade, Musharraf said Pakistan had suffered 250 casualties in fighting bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and other militant groups in its western tribal regions.
It had also destroyed the logistics and communications hubs of the terror networks so that they no longer functioned coherently, he said.
"It's very easy for a person to hide," Musharraf told an Australian Press Club lunch in Canberra.
"I know that he is alive. Most likely he is alive, yes, because of our information and interrogation of various Al-Qaeda operatives that we have apprehended.
"Maybe he is in the border region in hiding wherever he sees a vacuum."
Musharraf said while his government had deployed around 70,000 troops to fight insurgents hiding in the tribal areas separating Afghanistan from Pakistan, the soldiers could not cover the entire region.
"It is not easy to get a person there," the president said.
Musharraf is expected to sign an agreement on counter-terrorism cooperation during a meeting with Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday. He leaves Australia on Thursday to visit New Zealand.
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Mullah Omar, Osama safe and in good health: Mullah Akhter Usmani (Updated at 0050 PST)
ISLAMABAD: Taliban leader Mullah Akhter Usmani has said that Mullah Omar is safe and he is leading the Taliban.
While giving an interview to Geo he said that the Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is also safe and in good health. He said that Mullah Umar is our ameer and leader and he is alive.
He said that our discipline is unmatched. On a direct question about Mullah Omar he said that he wont tell whether he met Omar or not but he knows that the directives are always given be Omar.
We are in close contact with our allies and we hold our meetings but Mullah Omar does not participate in them however he takes the decisions and for this a separate meeting is organized. Over a question about the presence of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan or Pakistan Mullah Akhter Usmani said that he neither would comment on this question nor he would tell where Osama is staying but Osama is fit and fine by the grace of God.
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