Bin Laden Far More Difficult to Find Than Zarqawi, Officials Say

Although the U.S. military located and killed the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, finding Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remains a tougher task, officials and analysts said Thursday.

The mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, who avoids using satellite phones and the Internet, is probably holed up in rugged, remote terrain along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and protected by extremely loyal tribesmen.

Abu Musab Zarqawi, on the other hand, was killed just 30 miles from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, and appeared to be more directly engaged in the violence there.

“Osama bin Laden is a far more difficult leader of Al Qaeda to be caught as compared to Zarqawi,” retired Pakistani army Lt. Gen. Talat Masood said Thursday. “Bin Laden is not involved in day-to-day operations, and we believe that he enjoys the support of much more loyal people.”

Tips from senior militants led U.S. forces to follow Zarqawi’s spiritual advisor to the house where both were killed by U.S. bombs.

More than 20,000 U.S.-led coalition forces are deployed in Afghanistan hunting for members of the ousted Taliban militia and Al Qaeda. Pakistan has 80,000 troops in its Waziristan tribal region, regarded as the most likely hiding place for Bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri.

Last month, Henry A. Crumpton, the U.S. ambassador in charge of counter-terrorism, said parts of Pakistan’s border region were a “safe haven” for militants, and said Bin Laden was more likely to be hiding there than in Afghanistan.

A senior Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Pakistani forces, with help from the coalition forces in Afghanistan, were still working to get closer to Bin Laden, but “so far we don’t have any clue on his whereabouts.”