Osama bin Laden is no more the operational commander of the al-Qaeda terror network, the US envoy to Pakistan has said.

"I think Osama is no more the operational commander of al-Qaeda. Osama may be hiding in remote areas and it is not possible for him to establish contacts with his outfit members," Ambassador Rian C Crocker said.

Referring to the claim of the terror network's number two leader Aiman al Zawahiri that Osama was still commanding al-Qaeda, Crocker said that releasing a video after every three or four weeks regarding Osama does not mean that he and al Zawahiri were still commanding al-Qaeda operations.

Crocker said he did not know whether al Zawahiri was leading al-Qaeda now, a report in Geo television channel said.

The ambassador said he had received conflicting reports about al-Qaeda leader Abu Hamza Rabia's killing in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan region.

"However, if President Musharraf says he was killed in an encounter, there is no reason to doubt the President's statement," he said.

The envoy said that al-Qaeda leaders were facing serious problems due to the arrest and assassination of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Abu Faraj Al-Libbi, and Hamza Rabia.