US colonel says Laden ill: Report

"Osama bin Laden is trying to obtain medical attention," Colonel Don McGraw, director of operations at the Combined Forces Command in Kabul, told a group of British reporters, including one from al-Hayat, it said.

"He (McGraw) refused to say what the Qaeda leader is suffering from or whether it is the same kidney disease which Pakistani officials said in the past he was suffering from," the newspaper added.

Al-Hayat said it was not clear how the US military had obtained its information or where it thought bin Laden might be.

The Saudi-born militant is believed to have taken refuge somewhere on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan after escaping from US troops and their Afghan allies in 2001.