WASHINGTON (AP) - American-led forces pursued Osama bin Laden and clues to his whereabouts Saturday in a campaign President Bush said involved new tactics to ``rout a new kind of enemy.''
Two B1-b bombers struck a complex occupied by members of the fallen Taliban leadership that harbored bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorists, Maj. Brad Lowell of the U.S. Central Command said Saturday.
British and U.S. forces joined hundreds of Afghans in the search of caves of the former al-Qaida complex near Tora Bora, looking for documents and other intelligence as well as al-Qaida that may still be hiding there.
And U.S. troops doubled to nearly 140 the number of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners they detained for questioning or possible prosecution. From among thousands captured by Afghan fighters, the prisoners were selected for interrogation in the hopes they will give information about bin Laden, other terrorists or planned attacks.
In his last scheduled radio address of the year, Bush lauded progress made so far in the war on terrorism.
Twelve weeks after the start of the bombing campaign in Afghanistan, the fate of bin Laden remained unknown but the subject of different reports and rumors daily.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar called ``very far fetched speculation'' the idea that bin Laden had escaped to his country.
Meanwhile, in the first air strike since Wednesday, American forces bombed a building about 10 miles from Gardez in the eastern Paktia province late Friday night, Afghan time, Lowell said.
The air portion of the war has wound down to only occasional strikes since Afghan fighters in conjunction with U.S. bombing raids routed Taliban rulers and al-Qaida terrorists from most of the country.