The Washington Postand New York Timeslead with word that the deadline for al-Qaida troops to surrender passed without anybody surrendering, so U.S. planes have begun bombing again. USA Todayand the Los Angeles Timeslead with the indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui on six counts of conspiracy. The charges are the first in the U.S. directly connected to the Sept. 11 attacks. The papers say that Moussaoui, who aroused suspicion at a flight school in Minnesota a few weeks before the attacks and was thus arrested on immigration violations, was supposed to be the 20^th highjacker. The Wall Street Journaltops its worldwide newsbox with word that the United States is preparing to chase al-Qaida leaders to Somalia. But the paper says, "an intelligence review has concluded that the al-Qaida presence in Somalia is small and could be rooted out with limited operations by U.S. forces or allies."

"Moussaoui is charged with undergoing the same training, receiving the same funding, and pledging the same commitment to kill Americans as the hijackers," announced Attorney General Ashcroft. The indictment also named the 19 hijackers, as well as top al-Qaida officials, as co-conspirators. The Bush administration has decided, at least for now, that Moussaoui will be prosecuted in federal court and will not face a military tribunal. The WSJ calls that move a "partial retreat." Four of the six counts against Moussaoui carry a possible death sentence.

The NYT reports, in the 21^st graph, that some American commandos aren't just guiding in airstrikes around Tora Bora, they "appeared" to have actually joined the fighting.

Opposition forces made major gains yesterday and said that only a small portion of land remains in al-Qaida hands. The LAT says that Pentagon "officials described the fighting as especially fierce and desperate, with al-Qaida apparently willing to take many casualties to defend its final stronghold."

The NYT front and centers an excellent map of the fighting. There's also a version of it online. (Due to unpleasant technical issues, Today's Papers can't link directly to the map. Scroll about halfway down to the "Multimedia" link on the right-hand column.)

The NYT says that the United States intercepted al-Qaida radio transmissions "talking about Mr. bin Laden's location in the Tora Bora area." The paper doesn't give any more detail, but a report from ABC News says that Bin Laden was near Monday's blast of the huge Daisy Cutter bomb, "which set off a series of panicked radio and satellite-phone calls, and creating a flood of new hard evidence on the whereabouts of bin Laden."

 Still, nobody really seems to know his whereabouts.

"Until today, I was sure he's available here," said one top anti-Taliban commander. "But now, you know, I don't know exactly."

The papers report that Pakistan has deployed thousands of soldiers along its border near Tora Bora in order to stop al-Qaida folks from sneaking away.

But Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld warned, "There's just no way you can put a perfect cork in the bottle," Rumsfeld said.