Al Qaeda Fighters Skip Tora Bora – No Sign of Bin Laden
debkafile‘s military sources report that over the last 48 hours, most of the al Qaeda fighters holed up in the caves of the Tora Bora mountains were able to creep past the siege thrown round the area by US-backed local Pashtun tribesmen, known as the Eastern Front, and make their way into Pakistan. They must also have slipped past Pakistani army contingents posted on the mountain passes for the impossible mission of cutting off their escape through the 1,400 mile frontier. Osama bin Laden’s men used donkeys and mules to move back and forth between the two sides of the frontier atop the rugged mountains. They would have found sanctuary among the Pashtun clans controlling the tribal areas on the Pakistani side.
The last al Qaeda, an estimated 600 men, were ordered to get out of the Tora Bora area of east Pakistan Saturday, December 15. By the end of the day, less than half remained. Their last battle therefore was not for the purpose of defending bin Laden and top al Qaeda commanders, as widely reported. debkafile‘s intelligence and military sources have repeatedly reported that the Saudi-born terrorist and senior commanders were gone before the assault on Tora Bora began.