The "source" of a report which made a buzz around the world about the arrest of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, turned out to be a journalist based in the northern city of Peshawar, Pakistani authorities announced Sunday, February 29. They later found out that the sources quoted by the Iranian radio was a Peshawar-based Pakistani journalist who works for the English daily The Nation. The radio interviewed the reporter a day earlier about the situation in the tribal areas following a military operation. He apparently expressed his opinion that Bin Laden could have been arrested because he detected some VIP movement in his area.
The authorities have concluded that the radio actually misquoted the reporter and made a big story out of it. However, the Pakistani journalist has denied saying anything to that effect.
On Sunday, February 22, the British Sunday Express reported that U.S. and British special forces have cornered Bin Laden in a mountainous area in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border. It quoted a "U.S. intelligence source" as saying that Bin Laden "is boxed in " and they were "absolutely confident" he could not escape.
In his last tape, aired on January 5, Bin Laden warned that Washington would occupy Saudi Arabia and the entire oil-rich Gulf region after Iraq unless stopped.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-02/29/article04.shtml