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Pentagon denies reports on bin Laden`s seizure in Afghanistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Washington, Feb 28, Itar-Tass/ACSNA/IRNA -- Pentagon has denied 
reports on an alleged seizure of the world`s most known terrorist, 
Osama bin Laden by US forces in Afghanistan 
Larry Di Rita, an official spokesman for the US Department of 
Defense, said Saturday he had no grounds to believe that the reports 
on bin Laden`s seizure were correct. 
The story that the boss of the al-Qaeda terrorist network had been
arrested came from the Pashtun-language service of Radio Tehran. 
The radio quoted what it called an extremely reliable source in 
Peshawar, Pakistan, as saying the Americans had seized bin Laden in 
the so-called free tribe zone a few days ago. 
The radio also said that the US Secretary of Defense Donald 
Rumsfeld had made trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan Thursday in 
connection with bin Laden`s arrest. 
US military officials located in the region said, however, they 
did not have data to confirm that bin Laden had been captured. 
In Pakistan, high-rank officials denied the report, but made hints
that an event of the kind might be possible in the foreseeable future.
The information on the al-Qaeda boss` seizure is completely 
untrue, said Major General Shaukat Sultan, an official spokesman for 
the Pakistani Armed Forces. 
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri also told a news 
conference in Islamabad he could not confirm the report. 
The army units did make attempts to seize bin Laden, but he could 
not confirm the claims that the world`s most known terrorist had 
indeed been seized, the minister said. 
/AH/210 
End