- guardian.co.uk, Sunday July 4 1999 13.11 BST
Bin Laden paid the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan an unknown sum for the farm, in the village of Farmihadda, last October. He moved there two months ago and was seen in Jalalabad last Tuesday.
The US has offered $5 million for information leading to his capture. He was allegedly behind the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last August.
Within a month of the blasts, which killed more than 200 people, US navy ships fired 75 cruise missiles at guerrilla camps thought to be associated with him in eastern Afghanistan - 26 people died, but Bin Laden had left one of the camps an hour before the missiles struck.
The disclosure that Bin Laden has built himself a new base in Afghanistan will embarrass the hardline Taliban regime which claimed in February that it had no idea of his whereabouts.
Bin Laden's supposed 'disappearance' allowed the Taliban to avert a threat of further military action by the US intended to punish them for harbouring the terrorist. But it appears they are well aware of his location and have even deployed fighters to guard his new home.
The US appears to have been unable to mount a successful operation against Bin Laden: At least two assassination attempts have been bloodily stopped by the Taliban or the Saudi-born terrorist's bodyguards, and a third attempt, intelligence sources in Islamabad say, was exposed six weeks ago and all those involved killed.
A number of sources, including an Afghan landowner with opium farms south of Jalalabad, local aid workers, Afghan journalists, a military commander, secret service informants and Western security sources, have told The Observer that Bin Laden is operating from around Jalalabad. Many confirmed Farmihadda is his new home.
An Afghan journalist who penetrated security at the farm confirmed that it has now become a key base for the terrorist's operations.
Bin Laden, 44, has also moved part of his operation into a former military base known as Tora Bora, nearby, from where the mujahideen launched attacks during the resistance war against the Russians in the Eighties.
Though both locations are close to the Pakistani border, he appears to believe that he is safe there. He came to know the area well while fighting against the Russians, and there are many supporters there who will shelter him.
For security reasons he moves constantly, but a serious medical condition and back problems are making travel more difficult.
