Chasing bin Laden with TV ads in Pakistan offering cash

US and Pakistani officials have long suspected that the most likely hiding place for bin Laden is somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Top Pakistan intelligence sources say the Al Qaeda leaders seem to avoid using modern communications equipment, relying instead on hand-carried messages. In addition,recent Al Qaeda videotape messages - broadcast by Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite TV channel - appear to have been taped indoors. Earlier videos were shot outdoors which gave hints to bin Laden's or Zawahiri's geographical location. In the video of Zawahiri shown Sunday on Al Jazeera, for example, he appeared before a plain brown backdrop.

Since 1998, when the US launched cruise missile attacks against his terrorist training camps in southeastern Afghanistan, bin Laden has surrounded himself only with a hard-core group of Arab bodyguards. Those who have met bin Laden - including Pakistani journalists and extremists - say that this group of bodyguards would probably fight to the death rather than allow their leader to be captured.

US officials admit they have no hard evidence of bin Laden's whereabouts. In the absence of facts, speculation and conspiracy theories have filled the vacuum, placing the Al Qaeda leader in places as far apart as Kazakhstan and Iran.

Pakistani sources say that American and Pakistani intelligence services have increasingly coordinated their efforts in the ongoing war.

"There are various cells working to capture Osama, Zawahiri, and leading Al Qaeda leaders. The Pakistani and American intelligence and communication experts work separately and jointly as well in gathering information about them," says a senior official source.

"They collect and share information which could lead to the capture of these people.... The intelligence experts also look for leads about the most wanted men from the arrest of militants across the country," says the Pakistan source.

General Masood sees the revival of the ad campaign, reminding people of the available rewards, as a positive step that has worked before. "It has helped them in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially in locating Saddam and his sons," he says.

Security analysts here say that Osama and company could not stay in hiding without some support from local Islamists who see him as a symbol of defiance to America.

But in addition to that, there is fear. Several Pakistanis in the past 18 months reportedly have been killed in the tribal areas on suspicion of being spies for America. This ad campaign is aimed at providing enough financial incentive for people to take the risks of cooperation. "In the hunt of Osama, Zawahiri and other prominent Al Qaeda terrorists, human intelligence remains an important factor," says a security official.

The whereabouts of bin Laden and Zawahiri have been shrouded in mystery. The last time US forces were able to confirm their whereabouts was during the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001. US official say they may capture bin Laden today, tomorrow, or 10 years from now. But as in the capture of Saddam Hussein and much of his cabinet and family, the key to bin Laden's capture may depend on a tip from a trusted friend.

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