Bin Laden quits hideout fearing US attack — Daily

DUBAI, JULY 27: Islamic militant Osama bin Laden has abandoned his Jalalabad hideout in eastern Afghanistan for fear of an imminent'' U...

DUBAI, JULY 27: Islamic militant Osama bin Laden has abandoned his Jalalabad hideout in eastern Afghanistan for fear of an “imminent” US attack, an Arab newspaper reported today.

The London-based daily Al-Hayat said bin Laden first met officials of the Taliban militia in power in Afghanistan to review “information that a US attack was imminent.”

Taliban officers supervised his move to a secret location elsewhere in Afghanistan, it said, quoting “informed sources.”

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Bin Laden was accompanied by family members and supporters, including his military chief Mohammad Atef, and head of Egypt’s outlawed Jihad group, Ayman Zawahiri, who has been condemned to death in Egypt, it said.

The Saudi dissident, who has been stripped of his nationality, was based in Jalalabad since February.

Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said last week his country would not allow its territory to be used for any action against bin Laden.

His remark followed unconfirmed reports in the Pakistanipress that US commandos were in Pakistan for an operation to detain the terrorist after the Taliban spurned Washington’s demands to expel him.

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The US last year attacked suspected bin Laden terrorist camps in Afghanistan with cruise missiles.

According to the Pakistani newspaper Jang, the Saudi dissident has moved to a secret hideout made up of fortified bunkers. The refuge is guarded by some 450 Arab guerrillas, along with hundreds of local fighters, it said.