Captured fighters questioned on bin Laden's hideout

US intelligence officers are preparing to interrogate 20 suspected al-Qaida fighters captured after they fled the Afghan mountains.

This is where Osama bin Laden is thought to have been hiding.

The Pentagon says it hopes the prisoners who were captured after they crossed the border into Pakistan will be able to shed some light on the al-Qaida leader's whereabouts.

"We want to talk to them pretty thoroughly," said Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.

The men, who were fleeing heavy fighting in the Tora Bora mountains, have now been transferred to the US Marines base near Kandahar in the south of the country.

Meanwhile, new Afghan prime minister Hamid Karzai has played down claims that bin Laden is hiding with friends of the leader of a militant Islamic party in Pakistan.

"We don't know where he is. But wherever he is, he should be arrested and brought to international justice," he said during a visit to a Kabul hospital.

Earlier, Afghan defence ministry spokesman Mohammed Abeel claimed bin Laden was believed to be in Pakistan with associates of Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party.

Riaz Durrani, central information secretary for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, dismissed the report.

"We support the Taliban but never had any connection with Osama bin Laden," he said.