US Navy searches for Bin Laden

The hunt for Osama bin Laden spread to the Arabian Sea today as US warships launched a stop-and-search operation on merchant vessels leaving Pakistan.

Ships were warned that any resistance to boarding parties would lead to military action, and a notice to mariners issued by the American Navy also advised masters that anyone turning over Bin Laden could qualify for a reward of $25million (£17.5 million).

The action follows intelligence reports indicating that Bin Laden was on the move inside Afghanistan and might try to evade capture by crossing into Pakistan. Border patrols have intercepted at least eight members of his al Qaeda terrorist network in the past week, including a man described as one of Bin Laden's closest aides.

He is being questioned by a joint FBI-Pakistani military intelligence team today in an attempt to secure information that could pinpoint Bin Laden's hideout. Three Yemenis and three Saudi nationals have also been arrested but it is understood they denied all knowledge of Bin Laden's location and told police they were tourists.

The best intelligence received so far suggests Bin Laden took refuge in a network of caves and bunkers in the Sur Ghar mountains east of Kandahar. American bombers have been targeting the area in an attempt to flush him out.

It was hoped that Taliban leaders under siege in Kandahar would reveal Bin Laden's hiding place, but so far they have refused to surrender him. The Americans have reinforced special forces units working with Britain's SAS in the south of Afghanistan, and highly specialised CIA paramilitaries with contacts among local tribal leaders have deployed around Kandahar.

They are also hoping to capture or kill Taliban leader Mohammed Omar, but officials here suspect he has gone into hiding. A Taliban spokesman said he was in Kandahar still leading his followers but, according to informed sources, Mullah Omar has handed over leadership to close friend Akhtar Usmani.

Mullah Usmani, a hardline fundamentalist, is said to have assumed the role of Taliban leader so that Omar could escape while the Taliban still retained power in Kandahar. Tribal chiefs have warned that if they refuse to surrender the city they will be ousted by force.

Bin Laden has a well established network of supporters in Pakistan but officials say it is unlikely he would try to hide here or use the country as an escape route. It was far more likely that joint US-Pakistani operations in the country and offshore would discover more non-Afghan al Qaeda volunteers who are presently the quarry of US, British and Northern Alliance forces.

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