U.S. Officials Look to Al Qaeda Captives for Intelligence

Dec. 18, 2001 -- The fall of the Tora Bora mountaintop complex in eastern Afghanistan has not yielded Osama bin Laden, as many officials expected — but it may have turned up a number of his associates and clues to the possible whereabouts of the prime suspect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Intelligence sources tell ABCNEWS they believe that they now have in custody some of Osama bin Laden's most senior people.

Although officials, lacking photographs and fingerprints, were having some problems identifying these individuals among the bedraggled masses, sources say other prisoners are starting to finger their former leaders and provide information on where bin Laden might be.

At the same time, administration officials appeared to be warning that the war on terrorism had a long way to go — and that it might go far from Afghanistan.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz today warned countries against harboring bin Laden as he admitted al Qaeda cells were still operating in several countries.

"I just think any country in the world that would knowingly harbor bin Laden would be out of their minds," Wolfowitz told reporters at a press briefing at the Pentagon today. "I think they've seen what happened to the Taliban and I think that's probably a pretty good lesson for people not to do that."

In Yemen, there was a fierce military battle involving tanks and artillery after government troops went into a village believed to be sheltering al Qaeda supporters.

In Somalia, the CIA has been undertaking reconnaissance missions for the past three weeks.

And in Sudan and the Philippines, U.S. advisers are expected to arrive to consider other actions against alleged terrorists.

Taking Account of the Spoils

Intelligence sources told ABCNEWS their best guess is that bin Laden is still in Afghanistan, but is most likely in high mountain passes, trying to walk out of the country to Pakistan.

Military sources say bad weather has obscured American surveillance efforts along the border, but teams of U.S. special operations troops are in some of those high passes, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Not a single bomb was dropped today as the airstrikes were suspended after a week of heavy attacks, to allow for searches by U.S., British and anti-Taliban fighters.

"I think it's possible [bin Laden] could be dead in the bottom of one of [the caves at Tora Bora]," Wolfowitz said.

However, AC-130 gunships — the equivalent of flying tanks — continued to patrol the skies, and track down al Qaeda fighters fleeing towards the Pakistani border.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium, that the search would be "tough, dirty, hard work," and perhaps the most dangerous phase yet in the current operation.

Another 50 al Qaeda prisoners were pulled from some of the most remote caves today, unaware their brethren had abandoned them and were fleeing.

Many of them may be moved to the new detention compound at Khandahar airport built by the Marines, which received its first 15 battlefield detainees today.

Two of them were driven to the entrance of the detention center, in a military Humvee, apparently because they were injured, or had trouble walking. The rest were led in about 20 minutes later, shuffling in a line, their hands and feet bound. Apparently they were tied together as a group.

The 15 were being held by the provisional government at the Shedirgham prison near Mazar-e-Sharif, and will be interrogated by eight FBI agents who arrived today.

The Marines say the men will be safeguarded and provided with medical care, food, shelter and water; they'll be allowed to practice their religion; and to meet with the Red Cross.

Following a prison uprising in Mazar-e-Sharif last month when hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda detainees and a CIA agent were killed, Maj. Ian D. Brasure, a Marine legal adviser at the Kandahar detention center, said special security measures would be taken.

They include searching the prisoners thoroughly, identifying them with tags and segregating troublemakers.

The United States has custody of 20 Taliban or al Qaeda prisoners. Five of them, including U.S. citizen John Walker and Australian David Hicks, were being held on board the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea.

Wolfowitz today said the Pentagon believed the three Taliban or al Qaeda prisoners on board the Peleliu were "fairly important" in the al Qaeda and Taliban chain of command, but he refused to provide details.

Hunt for Mullah Omar Heats Up

Meanwhile, the search for the former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has been stepped up.

Anti-Taliban commanders believe the reclusive Omar is about 100 miles northwest of Kandahar, which he is believed to have fled when anti-Taliban forces took over the southern Afghan city earlier this month.

Anti-Taliban Pashtun fighters who now control Kandahar told reporters Omar would be hanged if he was caught.

Kandahar's newly appointed governor, Gul Agha, today told the BBC he would turn over other Taliban leaders captured in and around the city.

But the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted a militia spokesman in the Tora Bora region as saying al Qaeda captives would be handed over to the newly appointed Afghan interim administration headed by Hamid Karzai and not to any foreign country.

Gruesome New Leaflets

In other developments:

Two U.S. soldiers have been badly injured. One stepped on a land mine at the Bagram airport today, and had his foot was amputated. He was the fourth U.S. soldier to be in hurt in a land mine accident in Afghanistan, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Another was bitten by a cobra while pulling guard duty at an airfield in Pakistan. His heart stopped briefly. Both are headed for an American Army hospital in Germany.

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's newly appointed interim leader, met with the exiled former king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, in Rome today. Karzai received the ex-king's blessing and his personal Koran, and later told reporters that he he would be happy with a foreign peacekeeping force of any size necessary to be beneficial to his country.

The U.S. flag flown over ground zero in New York City was raised over Kandahar airport today by U.S. Marines. The flag had been sent by the New York City police department.

In southern Afghanistan, two C-130 transport planes launched evasive action after seeing flashes on the ground they thought were from Stinger missiles. However, the Pentagon believed the flashes were the result of a celebration on the ground to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

New leaflets being dropped in Afghanistan offer gruesome depictions of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders.

The count of dead and missing at the World Trade Center stands at 3,018. New York City officials say 515 people are missing. The medical examiners office has issued 502 death certificates, and 2,001 death certificates have been issued without a body at the request of victims' families.

ABCNEWS'Martha Raddatz and John McWethy in Washington contributed to this report.