Bin Laden deputy's 'narrow escapes' in Pakistan

The CIA has come closer to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden's top deputy during a nine-year hunt than was previously known.

The CIA missed a chance to catch Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2003 in the north-west Pakistani city of Peshawar, where he met with another senior al-Qa'ida leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was apprehended the next day and is now held in Guantanamo, US intelligence officials said.

The Egyptian doctor may also have narrowly survived a bombing by Pakistani military planes in 2004, the officials added.