A captured foreign born member of al-Qaida, center, tries to cover his face with a bandaged hand as two Afghan anti-Taliban fighters show him to the public in Agom, Afghanistan at the base of the White Mountains Monday. (AP Photo)

Troops Chase al-Qaida; bin Laden Still Missing

December 17, 2001, 04:00 PM

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By Geoff Spencer, AP Staff

TORA BORA, Afghanistan -- Heads bowed and hands bound behind their backs, 18 al-Qaida fighters captured in the fall of Tora Bora were paraded in front of reporters Monday as Afghan tribal soldiers and U.S. special forces hunted Osama bin Laden and what's left of his fleeing army.

There was no word on where bin Laden might be following Sunday's capture of the mountain caves where his terrorist network made its last major stand in Afghanistan.

More than 200 foreigners from al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, were killed in battles culminating nine weeks of attacks by American warplanes in the air and eastern alliance forces on the ground.

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Hundreds more were believed to be on the run here in eastern Afghanistan, and there was no word on the whereabouts of bin Laden.

"A few days ago we believed he was in that area. Now we're not sure," Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem told a Pentagon news conference Monday.

Stufflebeem said there was sporadic firing from caves where remnants of the al-Qaida force apparently are holding out. "There are still isolated pockets of al-Qaida fighting in this area, so we're not done yet."

But he said the success by Afghan tribal fighters in routing the al-Qaida from their caves and bunkers over the weekend led to a sharp drop-off in the amount of radio communications that could be monitored.

"Until we catch him -- which we will -- we won't know precisely where he's been," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters while flying to Brussels.

Al-Qaida fighters taken prisoner Sunday said they had seen bin Laden in the area a month ago -- further confirmation of reports that he had fled to the Tora Bora complex during the two-month U.S. bombing campaign.

The prisoners weren't sure where he was now, and with thousands of caves in the area, it could be a long time before anyone knows with certainty that fighters, including bin Laden, are not there.

There was fresh information, meanwhile, on another fugitive on the American wanted list: Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Haji Gulalai, the intelligence chief for Kandahar's governor, said reports indicated the one-eyed cleric was holed up with hundreds of fighters in the town of Baghran, northwest of Kandahar.

In other developments Monday:

-- Five prisoners from the war are now in American custody and have been taken to the USS Peleliu, a Navy helicopter assault ship in the region, said Defense Department spokesman Richard McGraw. McGraw did not identify the detainees. But on Monday, David Hicks, a 26-year-old Australian captured while fighting with the Taliban, was handed over to U.S. forces and flown to the ship, the Australian government said.

-- In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain will lead an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan and the first troops could be on the ground when a new interim government takes power this weekend if agreement is reached with local leaders.

-- The leader of the interim Afghan administration, Hamid Karzai, arrived in London for talks with the British Foreign Office's senior Afghan experts. He was on his way to Rome to meet with the exiled Afghan king, Zahir Shah.

-- In Kabul, the capital, the American flag flew over the U.S. Embassy for the first time since 1989. Veteran diplomat James F. Dobbins will run a liaison office until it is upgraded to an embassy again.

-- A Marine who stepped on a land mine at Kandahar's airport was flown to a hospital outside Afghanistan. Marines spokesman Capt. David Romley said Cpl. Chris Chandler lost his foot in the accident. Two other Marines -- Sgt. Adrian Aranda and Lance Cpl. Nicholas Sovereign -- suffered minor injuries to their hands and arms.

-- In Kandahar's Mirwais Hospital, nine armed al-Qaida fighters threatening suicide were moved to a ward with barred windows after four comrades escaped over the weekend, nurse Syed Rahim said.

-- The United States said it is scaling back its schedule of food drops over Afghanistan following the success of the U.S.-backed drive to destroy Taliban rule. "We're going from a regular flight schedule to more of an as-needed basis," said Lt. Col. Edward S. Loomis at the U.S. Central Command in Stuttgart, Germany.

Around Tora Bora, airstrikes were less intense Monday than in the previous weeks, but bombs still exploded deep in the forests on the snowcapped mountain range where al-Qaida fighters were believed to be fleeing. Cannon fire from helicopter gunships gave an orange tint to low-lying clouds over the mountains.

The eastern alliance said misdirected U.S. bombs killed three of its fighters overnight, repeating charges leveled earlier in the conflict that the Americans weren't taking enough care to avoid hitting their allies.

Some alliance fighters said U.S. special forces were working with them as they searched the caves and tunnels left behind by fleeing al-Qaida troops.

Auzubillah, a commander of the tribal eastern alliance, said his forces clashed early Monday with retreating al-Qaida fighters, killing two and capturing five. He reported finding ammunition and food stores in abandoned caves.

Several local fighters said women and children were among the al-Qaida dead, adding credence to reports that some foreign fighters had brought along their families. Their accounts could not be independently verified.

Captured al-Qaida members were led down the mountainside on mules amid intermittent snow. Many were crying.

One faction paraded 18 men -- nine Arabs and nine Afghans -- through the streets of a village. Several appeared to be slightly injured, and one man's head was bandaged. Some had their hands tied behind their backs with red nylon ropes. They were not allowed to speak to reporters.

About 200 residents watched silently, standing outside a village mosque. Manoghul, 23, cradled a Kalashnikov rifle. "When they were fighting us they were very proud men," he said. "Now they are weak. They cannot even look at us."

Thirteen captured fighters -- four seriously wounded -- were held in the mountains by men under commander Haji Zahir.

In footage taken by Associated Press Television News, the captors said the group included two senior al-Qaida commanders, whose names weren't given. Rumsfeld had said Sunday during a visit to Afghanistan that one senior al-Qaida leader reportedly had been captured, but he did not identify him.

The men pleaded with their captors not to turn them over to U.S. forces. Khudaifa, a 17-year-old fighter from Kuwait, said he came with his father to fight with al-Qaida, but that an American bomb killed his father and wounded him.

"I haven't had a drink for two days. If you don't give me water I will die," Khudaifa begged.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)