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Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - Web posted at 6:39:18 am GMT

KABUL - Suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar are together and "contained" in the area around the militia's southern citadel of Kandahar, the Northern Alliance said on Monday.

But the alliance's foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said the hunt for the world's most wanted man and his Afghan protector was "not yet over" and the coming days would be crucial.

Abdullah made his comments after around 1 000 US Marines landed south of Kandahar on Monday for an apparent offensive against the last major pocket of Taliban resistance.

Omar and Bin Laden, wanted for the September 11 attacks on the United States, were "together in that area" and the Saudi-born extremist's forces were "contained", Abdullah said.

He did not say whether the operation was being run by Afghan or US troops.

Abdullah said Taliban forces were concentrated in Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province to the west and still controlled Kandahar airport, he said. He did not specify which of the city's two air bases he was referring to.

Abdullah said the Northern Alliance, which took control of Kabul on November 13, had sent locally born commanders and other influential people to Kandahar to help spark an anti-Taliban rebellion.

"The story of the Taliban is over. It is a matter of time for it to come to an end," Abdullah told a news conference. Asked when Kandahar would fall, he said "soon (but not) very soon".

Abdullah said the search for Bin Laden and Omar was not over. "I would not say this is the final act."

He was cautious when asked how long foreign troops would stay in Afghanistan, saying only that any attempt to hang on after ousting the Taliban and Bin Laden's al Qaeda network of extremists would become a "sensitive" question.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Bin Laden had been recently spotted at a large and well-fortified encampment near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Local officials denied the report.

Taliban officials have issued a series of confusing statements about Bin Laden's whereabouts, alternately claiming he is under their control, out of contact, out of Afghanistan or shuttling across the Afghan-Pakistani border. - Nampa-AFP

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