ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan conceded Monday that al-Qaeda chief and terror mastermind Osama bin Laden may be hiding in its rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, AFP said.

"Osama bin Laden's presence anywhere in that area cannot be ruled out," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters.

"But if anybody knows about the whereabouts of OBL (Osama bin Laden), they should get in touch with the intelligence agencies either here in Pakistan or in Afghanistan or with U.S. agencies," Khan said.

He was responding to a statement by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Nancy Powell, in local newspapers last week that bin Laden might be hiding in the semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan.

Since the terror attacks in the United States in September 2001, bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network have become the face of global terrorism and are the target of a massive U.S. military campaign.

Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led "war against terrorism", has arrested some 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in the 22-month old campaign, but conflicting reports continue to surface as to the status and location of the al-Qaeda chief, who has 25-million-dollar price on his head.