UPDATE: This from CNN, Bin Laden near Chitral, uptrail from Darkot and across alpine meadow?
According to a U.S. military intelligence official familiar with the hunt, bin Laden is likely hiding in an area called Chitral, in the far north of Pakistan, bounded by Afghanistan to the west and China to the north.
Contrary to popular belief, the official said, bin Laden most likely isn’t living in a cave but in a house, possibly with a family and no more than two bodyguards.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the hunt, said the thinking that bin Laden is in Chitral is based in part on trees that are peculiar to that region that can be seen in a 2003 video of bin Laden walking in a mountainous region.
In addition, the official said, the conclusion that bin Laden is in Chitral is based on the length of time it takes for bin Laden’s audiotapes to make their way to news outlets like Al-Jazeera when he comments on important events, such as the death of al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It took three weeks for bin Laden’s reaction to appear on the world’s television screens.
Earlier I posted and retracted this report regarding Bin Laden, I am both updating and upgrading the report now that I remembered this earlier ADN Kronos Article that I joked about back in July, the timing is a week to a week and a half apart from the sighting reported by Hindustani Times near Darkot, Pakistan. Below you can see the July article, then my 8/20 writeup, which I retracted. Right now this appears to be more than just another false sighting.
Update: We have this report, that I had forgotten about from the hectic pace at work (you really would not want to be me right now.) So I am upgrading this again. From ADN Kronos in July, which matches aproximate timeframe of the Hindustani times article:
Islamabad, 21 July (AKI) – The Pakistani authorities on Thursday ordered the evacuation of a northern area of the country, near the border with China, of tourists and foreigners after receiving intelligence reports of the possible presence of Osama bin Laden in the area. According to Arab daily al-Hayat, the presence of the al-Qaeda leader was reported in the extreme north of Pakistan in an area that borders China and Afghanistan. For this reason hundreds of tourists – most of them European – were made to leave the Chalinji Pass and the Wakhan corridor and the security forces closed all access to the area.
The intelligence reports that had reached Islamabad indicated that bin Laden and his deputy Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri – along with other leading figures of the al-Qaeda terror network – had decided to use the area bordering China as a secure refuge as it is not controlled by the US military.
Al-Hayat says the reports were confirmed by Western embassy sources in Islamabad, who indicated that the choice of sticking near the China border was because US military bombers would not attack that area for fear of hitting China.
Potentially a Bin-Laden sighting from India, this could be more credible than some past false sightings just due to the pressure being exerted both sides of the Kashmir and in Afghanistan on Terror groups right now. There are also a couple of Special Task forces in the area from the US, and they have disappeared from the map and the news. Let’s hope they are up to something real good.
UPDATE: The page has been taken down at Hindustan times, the link to this page is still up at Counter Terrorism Blog as well. I am going to have to consider this a false report from Hindustan Times, with a strange method of retraction. I’m going to have to start getting semi-professional and take screenies of my page links from now on.
Further Update: Right Truth also picked this story up 8/19, and has entire text of Hindustani times article. You can also find the article text on Sean Hannity’s discussion board. National Terror alert Center also carried this.
Has Osama bin Laden been sighted? A report with the Government of India says Al-Qaeda’s top leadership was recently spotted near Darkot, a Pakistani village near the border with Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor. Sources say the report was made less than a fortnight ago. Till now, Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri were thought to be in the rugged mountains of Pakistan, along Afghanistan’s southeast border.
Update: it’s not very likely that Bin Laden would be on the Afghan side of the border, that part of the Wakhan is tightly controlled by the Northern Alliance, and the warlords — unless he’s paying a lot of gelt. He’s still not well-liked there even if he is paying them off, so much more likely to be on the Pakistan side if this is true.
If you are wondering about all the hedging here, go to google and examine the terrain yourself, note that white snow designates higher ground to get the right perspective except for the glaciers. This is a glacial cirque, and the village sits atop the moraine, which pretty much puts it at the end of a cul-de-sac. While it’s probably damned hard to get at the location from any direction other than the road end, there’s not much in the way of escape paths. Bin Laden would not be here unless he’s grown way overconfident, or he’s readying for a last stand.
Update 2: After more research, it appears that there are two ways in and out, and apparently this route has been used by military forces in the past. Continuing stories like this coming out of Pakistan of arrests of Al Qaeda members are making the move east into Kashmir more plausible.
Tour Picture of Darkot pass.
Here’s a plot that works if you are trying to locate Darkot, Pakistan. Here’s a pic from Google earth of Darkot, note that it’s in the Pakistani controlled Kashmir, about 105 miles from Chitral Airport, and 60 or so from the city of Gilgit and that airport as a crow flies.
Well, thank you for this article. When I posted at Right Truth, I got laughed at by my pal Chad at In the Bullpen, who posted a picture of Osama and Bert (or was it Ernie) from Sesame Street fame. That article got picked up on Free Republic, with a link back to me as the butt of the joke. If I’m correct, we had some coalition soldiers killed that same day somewhere near the suspected region. Coincidence? Maybe.
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I’ve updated and sent you a link. You can return the favor if you want. Good post again, and I stand corrected. It was some reader at Free Republic who added the picture, not Chad.
Thanks for stopping by, keep in mind I am still skeptical, but this is becoming more interesting. The postion west of Tora Bora, north of Gilgit shows how he and Al Zawahiri could be getting videos and tapes out, it’s not that terribly long a drive to Gilgit, Chitral, or the outskirts of Peshawar.