Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, is still believed to be hiding in Pakistan, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has said.

Leon Panetta said on Thursday, when asked by journalists whether he was sure, that "the last information we had, that's still the case".

Speaking in Washington DC, he said finding bin Laden remained one of the agency's top priorities.

His comments followed a speech to US politicians in which he also said the recent Pakistani military offensive in the country's north-west tribal regions bordering Afghanistan would give the US a better chance of capturing him.

Pakistan's north-western region, with its porous border with Afghanistan, has long been suspected as the hiding place for bin Laden.

Panetta also said the CIA had increased the number of officers and agents in Pakistan who were providing information to help attack the al-Qaeda network there.

Message to Obama

In a tape broadcast by Al Jazeera last week, bin Laden accused Barack Obama, the US president, of following the policy of his predecessor, George Bush, in "antagonising Muslims".

In a message shortly after Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia last Wednesday, bin Laden also said the president had inflamed hatred toward the US by ordering Pakistan to crack down on fighters in the Swat Valley.

The US has blamed bin Laden and al-Qaeda for a host of terror attacks, most notably the September 11 attacks in 2001 that killed almost 3,000 people.

It is offering a $25million bounty for information leading to his capture.