Hunt for bin Laden and Omar stepped up
Tribesman, backed by British and US special forces, are hunting for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar, in the mountains and caves of Afghanistan.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem says the hunt is like searching for fleas on a dog.
American intelligence officers are interrogating captives from the Taliban and al-Qaida for clues to their whereabouts.
Five more al-Qaida fighters have been captured overnight but a warlord doubts if bin Laden is still in the area, if he had been there at all.
Pakistan has reinforced its borders with troops and is patrolled with helicopter gunships to try and block escape routes from Tora Bora.
Prisoners reported seeing Bin Laden in the area, as recently as Saturday, according to reports. Information from al-Qaida loyalists is being treated with scepticism.
With the fall of the Taliban and with fighting tapering off near Afghan cities, hundreds of refugees poured back into their country from Pakistan, which houses an estimated three million Afghans.
In southern Afghanistan, a tribal intelligence officer said Taliban leader Mohammed Omar had fled to Baghran, in the foothills of the south-central mountains, with 300 to 400 fighters, but there was no immediate plan to pursue him.
"Every hour, we're getting reports of where he is," from contacts in the area, said Haji Gulalai, the intelligence chief for the governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha.
"America knows where he is. But we need to be in the same area to help guide any bombing," Gulalai said. "Without our help, America will end up bombing civilian areas. We haven't yet given the green light to the Americans to start bombing."
