We nearly caught Osama, says French general

Osama bin Laden narrowly escaped capture by French troops in Afghanistan, perhaps several times, the head of France’s armed forces said today.

But French soldiers are determined to capture the fugitive head of the al-Qaida network by the end of the year, General Henri Bentegeat said.

“Our men were not very far,” Bentegeat said. “On several occasions, I even think that he slipped out of a net that was well closed.”

Bentegeat did not specify when or where the escapes took place and a Defence Ministry spokeswoman declined to give details.

Pakistan’s rugged mountains that border Afghanistan are believed to be a possible hiding place of bin Laden.

Bentegeat said that 200 French troops were working with American forces in Afghanistan in the drive to track holdouts of the Taliban and bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist group.

“In Afghanistan, the terrain is extremely favourable to escapes, there are underground networks everywhere,” Bentegeat said, explaining why it was so difficult to track down bin Laden.

But he said the troops were determined to catch bin Laden by the end of the year.

“He symbolises September 11. He is certainly not completely innocent of what happened in Madrid,” Bentegeat said.

The “minutia of preparation” behind the Madrid attacks, where 10 bombs tore through four rush-hour trains minutes apart, were “the clearest indication” of an al-Qaida connection, he said.

Catching bin Laden will not halt al-Qaida’s terrorist activity, Bentegeat said, calling al-Qaida a “hydra with several heads.”

“If we catch one head there will be others,” he said. But, ”for justice, for the innumerable victims of these monstrous attacks, it is indispensable.”