Afghan fighters say al-Qaida routed

After weeks of fighting and relentless U.S. bombing in Afghanistan’s eastern White Mountains, U.S.-backed tribal forces declared victory Sunday in an all-out assault on remaining al-Qaida fighters. But Osama bin Laden himself could not be found, and a senior commander said he had fled and was no longer in the area. U.S. officials, who had appeared confident they had cornered bin Laden, conceded they did not know where he was but said U.S. forces wouldn’t rest until they tracked him down. Hazrat Ali, a senior commander of alliance of eastern tribes, said the alliance fighters had captured about 25 al-Qaida fighters and were holding them in the mountains. They were all that were left after more than 200 bin Laden loyalists were killed in a pitched battle Sunday, he said. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the news but said, “Our work is not done. There are lots of al-Qaida cells around the world that we have to go after.” Later, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Powell said the United States had no reason to believe that bin Laden “has been captured or killed. He might be in that area, where the eastern alliance forces are closing in; he might be somewhere else.”