Captured al-Qaida leader 'says bin Laden is alive and well'

Osama bin Laden is alive, in good health and living in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the suspected No. 3 al-Qaida leader told his interrogators after being captured last weekend, a Pakistani intelligence official said today.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the 11 September terrorist attacks, said he met bin Laden in recent weeks in Pakistan or in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mohammed told his interrogators he didn't know bin Laden's exact whereabouts, said the official, who reported that he participated in the interrogation.

Mohammed was captured last Saturday in a joint raid by Pakistani and CIA operatives on a house in Rawalpindi, a bustling city adjacent to the capital.

The official said Mohammed was interrogated for several hours by both Pakistani agents and CIA agents before being handed over to US authorities and taken out of the country to an undisclosed location.

In what would appear to corroborate the official's comments about bin Laden, The Associated Press received similar information on Monday from a former intelligence chief of Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers.

He said bin Laden had been seen in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province less than two months ago.