Osama hiding in 'K2' mountain range in Pak

Lahore, May 27: Fresh reports by an Arabic TV network have indicated that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding somewhere in the Karakoram segment of the Himalayan range of mountains, along the Pak-Afghan border which connects Afghanistan to the West, and that the US was planning a manhunt operation to capture him.

It said that US' investigating agency CIA (Central Investigation Agency) had located Osama on the "rooftop of the world", the area of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan to the west, in particular the chain of mountains of Afghan province of Nurestan and China to the north. Quoting confirmed sources, the Dubai-based TV network Al-Arabiya added that the US was planning to launch a manhunt to trace Osama and that a few days ago American security and military officials had a top-level summit at a military base at Doha to plan an operation to hunt for Osama.

US commander in Iraq Gen David Petraeus and US ambassador to Islamabad Anne Patterson were reported to have attended the Summit.

Last week, Petraeus testified before a US Congressional committee about security in Iraq and warned that members of al Qaeda based in Pakistan's Tribal Areas were planning a new attack on the US, the Daily Times quoted the report as saying.

The report further said that al Qaeda's support was broadening not only among the Afghan Taliban and Pakistani tribes, which deny Osama's presence in the area, but also among the fundamentalists, including the Muslim Brotherhood that had changed its strategy.

ANI