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Bin Laden on Move Right After Attack

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAHORE, Pakistan

Osama Bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's terrorist assault on the United States, changed locations within Afghanistan just minutes after Tuesday's attacks, a Pakistani intelligence source said yesterday.

Bin Laden would not tell anyone where he was moving, the source said. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the Pakistani account but did not elaborate.

Commanders of the Taliban religious militia that rules Afghanistan and gives Bin Laden refuge said the Saudi millionaire keeps on the move in the Central Asian nation, rarely staying in one place more than two days.

The latest report comes amid fear in Afghanistan that the United States may attack sites in the country used by Bin Laden.

In August 1998, U.S. destroyers fired 70 cruise missiles at eastern Afghanistan where Bin Laden operates training camps to retaliate for the bombing of two American embassies in East Africa blamed on Bin Laden. The death toll in the embassies' bombing was 231 — 219 Africans and 12 Americans.

During former President Bill Clinton's final days in office last year, senior officials weighed a military strike against Bin Laden after receiving intelligence on his whereabouts.

The plan was rejected over concerns the information was stale and could result in a miss or civilian casualties.

The British Broadcasting Corp. reported last night that Taliban leaders on Arabic radio said they would hand Bin Laden to an Islamic court only if the U.S. makes public "clear and substantial evidence."

The Taliban have said the U.S. has no justification to attack Afghanistan — and denies Bin Laden had the ability to carry out Tuesday's devastating assaults.

Pakistan, the nation most in the know about Bin Laden, promised unflagging cooperation yesterday with the U.S..

"I wish to assure President Bush and the U.S. government of our unstinted cooperation in the fight against terrorism," President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said. "The world must unite to fight terrorism."

The statement came after Secretary of State Powell on Wednesday criticized Pakistan's record of support for the Taliban. Yesterday, Powell confirmed Bin Laden as a prime suspect in the attacks and said he was telephoning Musharraf to seek "a specific list of things that we think would be useful for them to work on with us."

They talked for nearly 10 minutes, and State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said they had a positive conversation and Powell received a commitment of cooperation.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001


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