Bin Laden, Mullah Omar in Quetta, U.S. says

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and the operational headquarters of the Taliban are based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, U.S. officials claim.

Gerald Feierstein, the U.S. deputy chief of mission in Islamabad, said bin Laden and Taliban head Mullah Omar are operating from the tribal regions of Pakistan near Quetta, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.

He called on Pakistani officials to work with the United States in the region, noting success against al-Qaida required such collaboration.

His comments follow earlier allegations that the al-Qaida and Taliban leadership were launching attacks from their headquarters in the North-West Frontier province in Pakistan.

Earlier, however, Rehman Malik, the Pakistani interior minister, denied the allegations, saying Omar and bin Laden are in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

Malik also downplayed claims that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency was protecting or providing support to the Taliban.

Washington said it might consider an air campaign to take out Mullah Omar and other terrorist leaders who have tried to find sanctuary in the volatile tribal regions in Pakistan.

Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in a U.S. airstrike on a village in South Waziristan on Aug. 5.