Net tightens in hunt for bin Laden

THE net is closing around terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday, confirming the number three al-Qaida man captured one week ago met bin Laden in December.

Information from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed "is bringing us significantly closer to Osama", said one intelligence official who could not be identified according to the rules of the briefing by Pakistan's spy agency.

The press conference held at the InterServices Intelligence, or ISI, headquarters in Islamabad was the first by the spy agency.