TORA BORA, Afghanistan/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, remained a mystery on Tuesday as U.S. and Afghan forces hunted his routed fighters in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States did not know whether the Saudi-born millionaire it blames for the September 11 suicide attacks was still in Afghanistan -- or even if he was alive or dead.
With U.S. forces keen to nab bin Laden and close phase one of Washington's war on terrorism, Afghans looked ahead to Saturday's installation of an interim government to steer a country at war for over two decades towards a more peaceful future.
Triumphant Afghan commanders paraded 19 shuffling and shell-shocked captive al Qaeda fighters in a ritual humiliation on Monday in the village of Mia, some 15 km (10 miles) north of the front line.
But there was no sign of bin Laden, whose Taliban protectors were earlier ousted by a loose and disparate coalition of U.S.-backed Afghan tribal fighters.
"He might still be in Afghanistan. He might have gotten out of the country. He might be dead for all we know. We don't have any fresh information," Powell told a U.S. television chat show.