barrykind
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German Intelligence: Bin Laden Alive
published 03:16 PM - JULY 13, 2002 Eastern Time
BERLIN (AP) _ The head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency said in an interview published Saturday that he believes Osama bin Laden is still alive and hiding along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
August Hanning, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service, also estimated that more than 5,000 supporters of al-Qaida and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban militia remain in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, while many others have returned to their homelands.
"They are preparing attacks from their new locations _ they will try everything to strike again," he was quoted as saying in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "We must be prepared for that."
He referred to no specific plans.
Bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network are held responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Shortly after the attacks, Bush said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive."
Since then, Bush and other U.S. officials have played down the search for bin Laden, saying the more important goal is disrupting al-Qaida and preventing future attacks.
"As our knowledge stands, we are convinced that bin Laden is still alive, in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan," Hanning was quoted as saying.
"He is still the symbolic figurehead of al-Qaida, but apparently moves around little and when he does, in a very secretive manner," Hanning added, without elaborating.
Last Monday, President Bush said he does not know whether bin Laden is dead or alive.
German security agencies have worked closely with their counterparts in the United States to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks after it emerged that three of the suicide hijackers had lived undetected in Hamburg.
Hanning said bin Laden was consulted in planning for major al-Qaida attacks "but he did not operationally prepare the actions, and probably didn't even know all the details of the preparations."
He added the preparations for Sept. 11 "didn't cost much more than $1 million."
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Posts: 3529 | From: Orange, Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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