Special forces hunt bin Laden and followers

US and British special forces are helping to comb the mountains of the Tora Bora region for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida fighters who survived the siege.

Bombing from US warplanes continued through the night, but at a slower pace than in recent weeks.

Eastern Alliance fighters went cave-to-cave, finding stores of ammunition and food. Some reported skirmishes overnight with fleeing al-Qaida fighters.

Front-line commander Auzubillah said his men skirmished with one group, killing two of them and capturing five.

After nine weeks of siege, Afghan tribal leaders claimed victory over al-Qaida guerrillas at their last stronghold in Afghanistan. But bin Laden was nowhere to be seen, and US officials said the fighting around Tora Bora was far from finished.

US jets bombed targets as al-Qaida fighters fled deeper into forests on the snowcapped mountain range.

US and British soldiers have also been helping the tribal Alliance, but US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a brief visit to Afghanistan, told reporters that fierce battles in the Tora Bora area the previous day had slowed on Sunday.

With Afghan commanders saying at least 200 al-Qaida fighters had been killed and that 2,000 others were on the run, no one knew if bin Laden was dead, fleeing, holed up deep in one of the eastern region's thousands of caves or if he had been there at all.

Commanders Hazrat Ali and Mohammed Zaman said they commanded all the caves in the Tora Bora area, but there remained many to search.

"This is the last day of al-Qaida in Afghanistan," Zaman said.