Predator spy drones used to hunt bin Laden

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. and Pakistani officials said they are changing tactics in the search for Osama bin Laden, using an unmanned Predator spy plane to hunt the al-Qaida leader.

U.S., Pakistani and European officials said they're also concentrating on seeking other al-Qaida leaders who have been sighted recently, hoping their activities could lead to bin Laden, who hasn't been traced since disappearing after the battle near Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Since January, two senior al-Qaida leaders have been killed in attacks by Predator drones, which are equipped with multiple cameras and Hellfire missiles, officials said.

The inability to find bin Laden has been attributed to a heavy reliance on the military, disruptions created by the war in Iraq and underestimating the enemy, the Post said. But officials told the newspaper the main reason is an inability to develop informants in Pakistan's isolated tribal regions thought to be bin Laden's hiding place.

While lacking verifiable evidence, U.S. officials said the only logical conclusion they can draw is that bin Laden is in Pakistan.

"In many ways, it's a perfect place," Bruce Riedel, a former South Asia analyst for the CIA and National Security Council., told the Post "But there's not a scintilla of evidence that we have any idea where he is."