Osama in Afghanistan: Pak minister

London: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other top operatives of the terrorist network are hiding in Afghanistan, probably in Kunar area, Pakistan's Interior Minister, Mr Rehman Malik, has said, describing US led drone attacks in Pakistan as a futile effort for no "big fish" is present there.

"If Osama was in Pakistan we would know, with all the thousands of troops we have sent into the tribal areas in recent months.

"If he and all these four or five top people were in our areas they would have been caught, the way we are searching," Mr Malik told 'The Sunday Times,' adding that the US missile attacks in Pakistan are futile.

According to information available with the Pakistani officials, Osama is in Afghanistan, probably Kunar, as most of the activities against Pakistan are being directed from Kunar, he said.
Pakistan's officials say that the US has carried out more than 40 drone attacks inside Pakistan's territory in the past 10 months, killing hundreds of people.
The CIA officials claim these attacks have been highly effective in disrupting Al-Qaeda's ability to operate. However, Mr Malik insisted they are a waste of time because the Al-Qaeda leadership is on the other side of the border in eastern Afghanistan.
"They're getting mid-level people not big fish," he said.
"They (US missile strikes) are counter-productive because they are killing civilians and turning locals against our government. We try to win people's heart, then one drone attack drives them away. One attack alone last week killed 50 people," Mr Malik said.
The report quoted US officials in Islamabad as saying that Pakistan's government is being disingenuous, claiming to oppose the drone attacks to win domestic support, while being quite happy to benefit from them.
On Friday, two missiles fired from a drone destroyed a communications centre in South Waziristan that belonged to Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban responsible for a recent string of suicide attacks in Pakistan.
The Pakistani army has not yet caught the leaders of the Swat Taliban though the Interior Minister claimed that the main leader, Maulana Fazlullah, has been hit twice and is badly wounded.
"I'm quite confident we'll get them," he said, adding Fazlullah's family was found hiding in a refugee camp and they have been taken into custody.
"Not only have we killed most of them (Taliban) but we've also destroyed their hideouts and arms deposits," he said. "We discovered long, wide tunnels they were using for weapons."