LONDON -- US and British special forces have cornered Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a mountainous area in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, the Sunday Express newspaper reported.

Quoting "a US intelligence source," it said bin Laden and "up to 50 fanatical henchmen" were inside an area 16 kilometers (10 miles) wide and deep "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta".

"He is boxed in," the unidentified source was quoted by the tabloid as saying, adding that US special forces were "absolutely confident" that he could not escape.

According to the source, bin Laden moved into the area, "in the desolate Toba Kakar mountains," about one month ago from another area 240 km to the south, the Sunday Express said.

In Washington, a Defense Department spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is believed to be with bin Laden, according to the report.

The area is under surveillance from a geostationary spy satellite while US and British special forces await orders to move in, the newspaper said in its early edition, received late Saturday.

Al-Qaeda is held responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001. More recently, it has been suspected of supporting insurgent attacks on US forces in Iraq.

On Thursday, General Richard Meyers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said US forces were engaged in "intense" efforts to capture bin Laden, but held back from saying where he might be hiding.

"There are areas where we think it is most likely he is, and they remain the same," said Meyers, who was speaking to reporters in Washington. "They haven't changed in months," said Myers.

Asked whether the Al-Qaeda leader was believed to be in Pakistan, the general replied: "Don't know that. We think in that border region somewhere. We don't know where it is precisely."

The Sunday Express said it was also told in London by "a senior Republican close to the White House and the Pentagon" this past week that bin Laden had been located.

"They have found bin Laden," the source -- described as an "intimate" of the family of US President George W. Bush -- was quoted as saying. "They now know where he is within a manageable area which can be watched and controlled."

The Sunday Express said bin Laden's whereabouts had been discovered from "a combination of CIA paramilitaries and special forces, plus image analysis by geographers and soil experts".

"They studied the background in bin Laden's last video and matched it to rocks in the Toba Kakar region," the newspaper said.

"A two-man special forces surveillance unit them infiltrated the area," it said, adding that they picked up their first clues that bin Laden was in the area within a week.

"Other teams then slipped in," the Sunday Express quoted its source as saying. "To avoid any alert, helicopters were not used."

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Originally posted by trikicorners:
I would venture to say that even if they do catch him, it will be kept quiet until just before the election. lol

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If they DO wait months to move in on him then yes, maybe they will get him just before the election. But what if Osama decides to move? What if something happens that gives the US and BRIT forces no choice but to act. I really doubt this can wait months before something big happening.

Either way, OSAMA YOU F*&#! I don't EVER want to see your face alive again! The only thing I want to see is your pale PALE face under a video camera proving that you are DEAD!

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Originally posted by glassman:
remember the lesson he taught us last time--the VOTERS don't elect the president--the ELECTORAL COLLEGE elects the president----

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Originally posted by DiQuiRiesco:
Lesson he taught us? Who taught us? Fith grade history teacher?

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