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Bin Laden May Be Near Capture

By Brian Ross and David Scott

March 6 — Major military operations to capture Osama bin Laden were being planned and launched late today in Pakistan, with teams of CIA agents directly involved as the hunt for America's most-wanted terrorist rose to a fever pitch.

The search is centered on two areas on the border of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

One is near the northern city of Chaman, next to Afghanistan, where today planes dropped leaflets reminding people of the $25 million reward for bin Laden.

The other search is south and west where the province borders Iran.

The sudden optimism that the world's most-wanted terrorist may soon be captured, officials say, was sparked by information obtained from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Mohammed, believed to be the third-ranking al Qaeda leader and the planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, was captured last weekend in Pakistan.

There have been numerous unconfirmed reports of sightings of bin Laden in the area on both sides of the Pakistani-Iranian border. Mohammed has extensive family roots in the area.

"They definitely have him pinned down to a small area. This will be a major operation," said ABCNEWS terrorism consultant Vince Cannistraro.

American officials say bin Laden's location was pinpointed more than a week ago when he used a mobile phone to call his family, a surprising decision for somebody who knows American satellites can pick out his voice.

Bin Laden's son Saad was recently in the Iranian capital, Tehran, European anti-terrorism officials told ABCNEWS.

"His son, apparently Saad, is in Iran and some of his wives also are in Iran and he has made apparently a big mistake," said Cannistraro.

Mohammed also reportedly told his interrogators with the CIA and Pakistani intelligence that he had met bin Laden within the last month.

Authorities believe information from Mohammed's cell phones dovetails with other information they already had, which leads them to believe they have a very good bead on bin Laden's whereabouts.

Pakistani officials said their military is being mobilized in Baluchistan's capital, Quetta.

Whether or not bin Laden actually can be brought in and tried remains an open question. American officials who have interrogated al Qaeda prisoners say bin Laden would not want to be taken alive.

"I always had this dream of seeing him in an orange prisoners' jump suit that said 'Metropolitan Correctional Center' [in New York City], but I think he will want to shoot it out because he has scripted his own demise,"said Jack Cloonan, a FBI bin Laden investigator until he retired recently. "He wants to be a martyr."