More than a half-dozen senior leaders of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and several hundred of his most loyal fighters have been killed in the war in Afghanistan so far, US officials say.

The Pentagon says it still does not know where Osama bin Laden is hiding.

US military planes bombed and destroyed a building where top al-Qaida terrorist leaders were believed to have gathered, a US official said.

The Taliban’s dramatic retreat could be a deliberate tactic to help them regroup, United States military officials have said.

The current wave of anthrax attacks was feared tonight to have spread beyond the United States to Pakistan - but reports of possible outbreaks in Germany were later clouded in doubt.

The US Defence Secretary believes American forces may not be able to catch Osama bin Laden.

The Pentagon says the Taliban may poison humanitarian food supplies and blame the US.

Taliban forces in Afghanistan may be hiding in residential areas to shield themselves from air strikes, a senior US military officer said, as the Pentagon acknowledged that an errant 1,000lb bomb damaged an Afghan OAP centre.