I’ve been waiting to get confirmation, but it’s still not there, so take this with the usual grain of sodium. But we may be close to nabbing Ayman al-Zawahiri.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani forces believe they have cornered and perhaps wounded Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, in a battle near the Afghan border, three senior Pakistani officials said Thursday, the first major break in the world’s most intense manhunt in more than a year.

Hundreds of troops and paramilitary rangers pounded several fortress-like mud-brick compounds with artillery and fired on them from helicopter gunships, as entrenched suspects fought back hard in the mountainous region. An intelligence official said “dozens” were killed Thursday.

The officials told The Associated Press that intelligence indicated the forces had surrounded the Egyptian-born al-Zawahri in an operation that began Tuesday in South Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal belt long believed the most likely hiding place for the top two al-Qaida leaders.

There was no indication bin Laden was with al-Zawahri.

Of course not, because bin Laden joined the Choir Invisible in Tora Bora.