Bin Laden rumors debated

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Pakistani journalist challenged claims made by a Taliban detainee in Pakistan that Osama bin Laden is hiding out in southeastern Afghanistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said during a meeting with the British premier Thursday that that he did not think the al-Qaida leader was in Pakistan.

The whereabouts of bin Laden have been a source of speculation since he fled the mountains of Tora Bora in Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion. He is widely believed to be hiding in the tribal regions of western Pakistan.

The BBC, however, points to claims by a captured member of the Taliban in Pakistan who claimed to have known someone who met with bin Laden in January in the southeastern Afghan province of Ghazni.

Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he had serious doubts about the latest bin Laden claims

"I think if he was in Afghanistan, the American forces, the NATO forces, would have discovered it by now," he said.

Regarding other wanted militant leaders, including mujahedin leader Jalaluddin Haqqani and Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Mohammad Omar, the journalist said evidence suggests they too are most likely hiding out in Pakistan.