US forces yesterday pursued more heavy bombing raids in eastern Afghanistan to destroy remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, while ABC news quoted its sources as saying that Osama bin Laden had escaped the country by sea.
A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spokeswoman immediately denied the report.
"It's completely untrue. That is not what the CIA believes," spokeswoman Anya Guilsher said.
ABC reported that CIA analysts tracking bin Laden have concluded that he escaped from his hideout in Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan around the first week of December, leaving behind a tape-recorded message to fool US pursuers.
The network quoted unnamed intelligence officials as saying a captured supporter claimed to have witnessed bin Laden turning over operational control to one of his deputies before heading to Pakistan.
A second group of prisoners from Afghanistan arrived Monday at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, bringing the number of detainees at so-called Camp X-Ray to 50, after a first group of 20 arrived there last week.
A crackdown on Muslim extremists appeared to be winding down in neighboring Pakistan, which said it would seek the help of the US in easing tensions with India.
Pentagon officials said US warplanes pursued their destruction of a labyrinth of caves in eastern Afghanistan, using heavy bombers to close cave entrances, raze buildings and prevent the return of al-Qaeda fighters to their former Zhawar Kili base.
"There have been reports of individuals in that area," said Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff deputy director of operations. "We don't know what they were doing, [but] when taken together with other intelligence sources, it's still obviously a hot area."
US special forces searching the complex found 60 above-ground structures and about 50 caves and training areas, as well as tanks, artillery and stockpiles of other weapons and munitions, he said.
He said strikes on Zhawar were winding down, but US forces would move to other valleys in the region, also honeycombed with caves and tunnels that could hide al-Qaeda men or materiel.
A second group of 30 captured Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, shackled, hooded and each guarded by two US soldiers, arrived at Guantanamo on Monday after a 27-hour flight from a detention facility near Kandahar.
The Foreign Office in London said three British nationals were among the prisoners now held at Guantanamo.
Interrogations have not yet begun, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is still working out procedures.
Seeking to dispel concerns by human rights groups on the treatment of the prisoners, she said they were given "culturally appropriate" meals three times a day and could shower, exercise and receive medical attention daily.
"In keeping with and in accordance with the Geneva Convention, they are receiving very humane treatment and we expect representatives from the [International Committee of the Red Cross] to visit with them later this week," she said.
Officials in Islamabad said a wave of arrests among Muslim extremist groups following new anti-terror measures announced Saturday by President Pervez Musharraf was winding down.
"The bulk of the suspects have already been rounded up but the process will continue," an interior ministry official said. "Police [countrywide] have sealed 473 offices of these groups and rounded up around 1,400 suspects.
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