Bin Laden is in Pakistan - Afghan defence minister

Osama bin Laden has left the mountains of eastern Afghanistan and entered Pakistan, Afghanistan's defence minister said today.

Mohammed Fahim, in an interview with Japanese TV, refused to say how he knew where bin Laden had gone.

"After Osama bin Laden left Tora Bora, he went to Pakistan. He is under Pakistan's control," Fahim said. "He is out of our control."

The government's new foreign minister, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, has said previously bin Laden was in southern Afghanistan. Other officials have made statements similar to Abdullah's. There is no explanation for the discrepancy between their accounts and Mr Fahim's.

Rumours about bin Laden's whereabouts have been flying in recent weeks, sometimes at the rate of several per day.

In Kabul, a Defence Ministry spokesman said bin Laden was believed to be in Pakistan, an assertion quickly quashed by Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, who said he didn't know where the al-Qaida leader was.

Last week, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said he was "reasonably sure" bin Laden had not escaped into his country and said there was a "great possibility" the fugitive was dead.

"He's not in Pakistan, of that we are reasonably sure," Mr Musharraf said.