New Delhi: A laptop computer used by al-Qaida's operational planner, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, has yielded a list of at least six hiding places along the Pak-Afghan border used by Osama bin Laden and his supporters, even as the outfit has set up a squad of female suicide bombers, media reports said.

US and Pakistani authorities had seized the computer along with cellular and satellite phones and other materials when they arrested Mohammad in Rawalpindi last month, the 'USA Today' magazine said. He is accused of having planned the 9/11 attack, bombing of USS Cole near Yemen in 2000 and other terrorist acts.

"Much of the information on Mohammad's laptop was protected by an encryption code that was easily broken by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analysts," the magazine said.

It said CIA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Security Agency officials were analysing the materials in Washington, which include at least two letters probably from Laden, bank ledgers and other evidence relating to al-Qaida money transfers.

"The evidence has triggered investigations in at least eight US cities," it said quoting US enforcement officials.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian English daily 'Arab News' said al-Qaida had set up squads of women suicide bombers "who take orders from Laden and will target the United States".

The Saudi daily's sister publication 'Asharq al-Awsat' published an e-mail interview with a woman calling herself 'um Osama' or the mother of Osama and the leader of the women Mujahideen of al-Qaida.

'Arab News' said the women bombers include Afghans, Arabs, Chechens and other nationalities, "who are at present in all the countries of the world".

"We are preparing for the new strike announced by our leaders and I declare that it will make America forget the September 11 attacks in 2001," um Osama was quoted as saying.

She is also reported to have said the women squads' mission, besides "martyr operations, was to provide logistical support to the Mujahideen and intelligence.

"We intend to set up training camps in areas where there are large numbers of female Mujahideens such as the Arabian peninsula," the Saudi daily quoted um Osama as saying.

Another report, quoting senior US officials, said al-Qaida supporters "have also begun exploring a post-Laden future.

"Rather than choose a successor from among Laden's sons or surviving lieutenants who are already sought by US agencies, the organisation may select from a group of men who have largely stayed underground," the report in the American 'CBS News' said.

PTI