Powell: We do not know where bin Laden is hiding

The US does not know where terror suspect Osama bin Laden is hiding, Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted.

He vows the US will hunt bin Laden down and says any country found to be harbouring him will pay the price.

Gen Powell was speaking on ITV1's Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme.

He said: "I can't tell you that I know where he is ... I don't think many people know where he is. If I knew where he was right at this moment then I wouldn't be here chatting to you.

"But we will find him in due course and those who harbour him will discover that there is a penalty for harbouring him. We have no doubt that it is him we are after and as we continue to assemble and do intelligence work, it will become known."

Gen Powell admitted the war against terrorism will be never-ending and that the current military campaign will be a long one.

"We are certainly putting together adequate military capability for whatever the President might direct," he said, "but it is a different kind of a war ... it will be a thorough campaign that will last a long time.

"There probably isn't an exit point for this one because there will always be someone out there who tries to achieve a political aim through this kind of violence. Our goal in this conflict is to apply all the decisive power that we can to make it less and less likely for them to be successful, to find a haven."

Gen Powell, himself a New Yorker, told interviewer Sir Trevor McDonald that the attack on the World Trade Centre had affected him and his family.

He says his son, who is chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, viewed the scene of the disaster and told him: "Dad, you can't believe - TV doesn't do justice to the tragedy that is before us."