The trail has gone cold in the hunt for suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden three years after the audacious attacks, but the al-Qaida chief and his No. 2 are still orchestrating strikes like the recent suicide car bombing of a U.S. security firm in Kabul, a top American commander said.

Maj. Gen. Eric Olson said the military had not intercepted any radio traffic or instructions from either bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. But he said the involvement of well-trained foreign fighters in attacks near the Pakistani border convinced him that the fugitive leaders were pulling the strings.

��What we see are their techniques and their tactics here in Afghanistan, so I think it is reasonable to assume that the senior leaders are involved in directing those operations,�� Olson, the operational commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, said in an interview Saturday.

The Aug. 26 car bomb which killed about 10 people, including three Americans, also bore the hallmarks of the militant network, Olson said.

��We��ve even tied it to a group that has ties to al-Qaida. It could be a splinter group of some sort,�� Olson said. ��It��s a new group, apparently a group that was carved from al-Qaida,�� he said.

(Shenzhen Daily-Agencies)