More than 2000 tribal fighters were on Tuesday heading for mountains in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday to hunt down members of Al Qaeda organization near Jalal Abad in an airbase, where suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and his men are said to have taken refuge, according to Al Jazeera satellite channel.
Reuters added that Taliban forces are also in the location.
“The Jalalabad shura (council) has mobilized around 2,000 locals to kick the Taliban and their supporters out of Tora Bora,” Amin, spokesman for Jalalabad military chief Hazrat Ali, told Reuters by satellite telephone from the eastern city.
“They are on their way to the area, but fighting has not yet begun. We expect it to start tomorrow morning.”
Amin, who like many Afghans uses only one name, said the anti-Taliban force had left Jalalabad in four-wheel drive vehicles for Tora Bora, about 50 km (30 miles) to the south.
US warplanes have frequently bombed the Tora Bora area, where bin Laden, chief suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States, is reputed to have built an underground lair, according to the agency – Albawaba.com
