ISLAMABAD, 2 September 2003 — Pakistan conceded yesterday that Al-Qaeda chief and terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden may be hiding in its rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. “Osama Bin Laden’s presence anywhere in that area cannot be ruled out,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters.

“But if anybody knows about the whereabouts of Bin Laden, they should get in touch with the intelligence agencies either here in Pakistan or in Afghanistan or with US agencies,” Khan said.

He was responding to a statement by US Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell in local newspapers last week that Bin Laden might be hiding in the semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan.

Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led “war against terrorism”, has arrested some 500 Al-Qaeda and Taleban fugitives in the 22-month old campaign, but conflicting reports continue to surface as to the status and location of the Al-Qaeda chief, who has 25-million-dollar price on his head.

Officials said yesterday that the backbone of the Taleban had been broken and dismissed as baseless reports that the ousted Afghan militia was reorganizing in Pakistan. “There is no regrouping of the Taleban on the Pakistani soil, absolutely none,” Khan told the weekly press briefing.

“Our assessment is that the backbone of Taleban has been broken.” There are some “splinter groups” of Taleban in Afghanistan and “all efforts are being made not to allow them to regroup,” he added.

“Our campaign against the Taleban is very intense,” he said, referring to the recent arrest of about two dozen Taleban suspects in southwestern Balochistan. Afghan officials have recently charged that Taleban loyalists were regrouping on the Pakistani side of the porous 2,400-kilometer border and organizing attacks inside Afghanistan.

The war-shattered country is facing a surge in violence against aid workers, soldiers and government targets, blamed largely on resurgent Taleban fighters. “There is heavy concentration of Taleban on the Afghan side because the Taleban come from Afghanistan and they have sympathizers there too,” Khan said.

He described elements of the hard-line militia a “common problem” for both Pakistan and Afghanistan and called for increased cooperation between the neighbors to tackle the issue.

Khan said the issue came under discussion when Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri visited Kabul last month and held detailed talks with Afghan leaders, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. “The general sense was that the right thing to do was to share intelligence and information,” Khan said.

US and Afghan forces have launched a fresh offensive against suspected Taleban resurgents holed up in the Daychopan mountains in southeast Zabul province.