Frenchman gives clues to bin Laden's location

A French man who fought with al-Qaida has given clues to the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden whilst under armed guard in a Pakistani hospital.

Abdur Rehman, 21, was wounded in US airstrikes on the Tora Bora cave complex, medical staff and intelligence officials said.

Intelligence officials say he told them between 800 and 1,000 Arabs are holed up in tunnels in the rugged mountains, but would not say whether they indicated bin Laden was there.

"We have received some clues about bin Laden, but it is too early to reach any conclusion," an official at the interior ministry said on condition of anonymity.

Sources in Pakistan's intelligence agency say Rehman, who received military training at an al-Qaida camp six months ago, told interrogators that between 80 and 100 other French citizens also were trapped in Afghanistan.

One doctor claimed Rehman said "Honourable death is better than shameful life," at the hospital.

Rehman crossed into Pakistan and was taken into custody at the Torkham border crossing. He was taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Peshawar, where intelligence agents were guarding him.

Five Arabs who crossed the border with him also were taken into custody, and three of them were being treated at the same facility, the Lady Reading Hospital. The other two Arabs were detained elsewhere, the intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity.

The doctors and nurses gave the names of the three Arabs being treated as Hakim Jan, 20; Abu Asim, 22; and Mohammed Khalid, 20. They didn't disclose the men's nationalities.

The intelligence officials said the men had been arrested by anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan and were sent to Pakistan for treatment and interrogation.