US Special Forces Reported in Pakistan to Head off Qaeda Fleeing Fighters

27/05/2001| IslamWeb

WASHINGTON (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The United States on Monday intensified the hunt for al Qaeda fighters after the apparent fall of their cave compound at Tora Bora in Afghanistan, with one U.S. television network reporting U.S. special forces were dispatched to Pakistan to head off fleeing al-Qaeda fighters.
Amid reports Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and the remnants of his al Qaeda guerrilla army may have headed for neighboring Pakistan, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said on Monday the United States is ``not chasing individuals across the border.''
However, ABC News reported on Monday that U.S. special forces were inside Pakistan coordinating the search for fleeing al Qaeda fighters, while CIA agents were at Pakistani detention centers interrogating the nearly 100 fugitives arrested.
A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing the war in Afghanistan, refused to confirm or deny the ABC report.
Stufflebeem and others at the Defense Department have acknowledged that bin Laden's location is, in Stufflebeem's words, ``anybody's guess.''
A U.S. official said on Saturday that bin Laden's voice had been overheard on short-range radio in the rugged Tora Bora area of southeastern Afghanistan in the previous week.
But Stufflebeem said intelligence about the fugitive millionaire's location had tapered off since the fall of that al Qaeda stronghold, which is riddled with caves and tunnels.
Stufflebeem and others have indicated that while bin Laden may have fled the area or may still be in Afghanistan, it is also possible that he has been killed.