The Hindu : Osama, Omar alive: Afghan Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 03, 2002

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Osama, Omar alive: Afghan Minister

Moscow March 2. The prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban chief, Mullah Omar, are alive and are constantly changing their hideout on both sides of the border, Afghanistan's Interior Minister, Yunus Qanooni, has said.

Omar and Osama ``are constantly on the move. Sometimes they are in Afghanistan and sometimes outside it,'' he told a press conference here last night.

Wrapping up his visit to Russia, he said Afghanistan authorities, with the help of sources, were in a position to trace the movements of Mullah Omar and the Al-Qaeda chief.

The duo are currently in remote areas, where it is impossible to launch military operations due to intense cold, Mr. Qanooni said, expressing hope that with the onset of spring they will either be arrested or they will not be able to get into Afghanistan.

During his three-day visit to Moscow, he held talks with his Russian counterpart, Boris Gryzlov, the Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, and the Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations and Disaster Management, and received assurances of Russia's material assistance in rebuilding Afghan law enforcement agencies and humanitarian aid, a spokesman for the Afghan embassy here said.

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