CIA: Bin Laden isolated from al-Qaida

OSAMA bin Laden, deeply isolated and likely to be somewhere near the rugged Afghanistan-Pakistan border, has been forced to devote much of his energy to his own security while his al-Qaida terror network remains resilient, CIA director Michael Hayden said.

“He is putting a lot of energy into his own survival, a lot of energy into his own security. In fact, he appears to be largely isolated from the day-to-day operations of the organisation he nominally heads,” Hayden said.

The CIA chief suggested bin Laden was hiding somewhere in the remote border region, where he said al-Qaida has regrouped and bolstered its organisation.