Pakistani forces step up bin Laden hunt

Pakistani forces backed by helicopters and paramilitary troops launched an operation to capture fugitive al-Qaida and Taliban suspects in remote border areas today, sweeping through villages in a region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

The searches near the town of Wana, just a few miles from the border with Afghanistan, began after dawn, as paramilitary and army troops moved into areas where the fugitives are believed to have taken refuge among local tribes.

“An operation has begun near Wana,” said Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. “That’s all that I can tell you.”

People in Wana reported hearing explosions and gunshots throughout the morning.

“We have heard 25 to 30 explosions. The shooting started in the morning and it’s continuing,” said Shahzad Wazir, a resident in Wana.

The operation, which included more than a dozen helicopter gunships, began in the village of Zarkai, a village in Pakistan’s strategic South Waziristan tribal region, about 200 miles west of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

It was not immediately clear whether the troops had detained anyone in the search, which authorities hope will yield clues about bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader.

Intelligence officials have long believed that the Saudi fugitive has been hiding in the rugged mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, though there has been no hard evidence of his whereabouts for nearly two years.