Osama bin Laden has told his son to kill him if special forces close in on his mountain hideout.
US intelligence officials say he wants to be rewarded with a martyr's death.
Interviews with captured Taliban warlords have provided several important new leads on where bin Laden and other leaders of his al-Qaida terror network are hiding.
Bin Laden has asked those closest to him, including his son, Mohammed, to reward him with a "martyr's death" rather than allow him to be captured by the "infidels," intelligence officials told the New York Post.
"The search has been narrowed to caves in mountains east of Kandahar and in Tora Bora, east of Jalalabad", Pentagon officials said.
The Taliban defectors have told American agents that they believe bin Laden is now constantly on the move with his four wives and children and protected by up to 1,500 al-Qaida gunmen.
The Postsaid US warplanes have attacked the caves with bunker-buster bombs and missiles over the last week.
Several secondary explosions were observed by pilots and Pentagon officials believe scores of al-Qaida fighters have been killed.
PA