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American Morning

Captured Al Qaeda Believe Bin Laden Still in Tora Bora

Aired December 17, 2001 - 08:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Eastern Alliance commanders in Afghanistan now say Tora Bora has fallen, and that the al Qaeda troops are defeated. But where is Osama bin Laden?

Well, CNN's Senior International Correspondent, Walter Rodgers, is in Tora Bora this morning with the very latest.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Information gleaned from prisoners taken in fighting yesterday -- these are Arabs from al Qaeda men who were fighting for Osama bin Laden -- suggests that these fighters believe that Osama bin Laden was still in the Tora Bora mountain region, the mountains you see behind me, as recently as Saturday.

Now, these Arabs from al Qaeda include, by the way, two Saudis -- one man from Iraq, one from Qatar. They say they believe bin Laden was still in the mountains just two days ago. They did not, however, give any information to suggest why they believe this -- whether they had seen bin Laden in person or not.

Still, it appears U.S. military commanders have reason to believe that bin Laden, or at least the remnants of his al Qaeda fighters, are back in those mountains. Within the last 12 hours, there has been extraordinarily heavy bombing back in there, particularly overnight. U.S. bombers taking advantage of thermal imaging, looking down from their planes and seeing warm spots in the mountain snow. That suggests, perhaps, there might have been some al Qaeda fighters there. That accounts for the heavy bombing. Additionally, even throughout today, U.S. Navy planes have been flying overhead, dropping two to three bombs per plane in those mountains.

One interesting thing, however of course, is that the bombing line has been moving further and further away from us, whereas three or four days ago, the bombing was just on the ridge behind me, perhaps three miles away. Now, we're hearing bombs falling perhaps eight or nine miles behind us. That eight or nine miles being the last perhaps remaining sanctuary of the al Qaeda fighters and perhaps bin Laden. We don't know, but they appear to be -- the bombs appear to be falling closer and closer to the Afghan border with Pakistan.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan.

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