Pakistani security forces have lost track of Osama bin Laden's possible whereabouts, Pakistan's president conceded today.
President Pervez Musharraf says his forces believe they nearly hunted down bin Laden about 10 months ago but that the trail has since gone cold.
"Through interrogation of those who have been captured, the al-Qaeda members who were apprehended here, and through technical means there was a time when the dragnet had closed," President Musharraf told the BBC in an interview today.
Some security experts say bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On Sunday, Pakistani officials said the country's security forces had mounted a search for suspected al-Qaeda foreign fighters in a tribal area near the Afghan border. Ten men were detained for questioning.
Last week, Pakistani soldiers killed two foreign al-Qaeda suspects.
Pakistani officials say security forces killed or arrested hundreds of al-Qaeda foreign fighters and their local supporters in operations in the South Waziristan region last year.
But they say about 100 are still hiding in the mountainous area and that others have moved into the North Waziristan region.
US-led forces in Afghanistan have been involved in the hunt for bin Laden on Kabul's side of the border.