March 13, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 9, 1424

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WASHINGTON, March 12: The United States government said on Wednesday it had no information to substantiate an Iranian radio report that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been captured in Pakistan.

“We have no information to substantiate that claim,” said a spokesman for the US administration, whose view was echoed by two other officials.

“There is nothing to substantiate this rumour,” another US official said of the report.

Iranian radio, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), reported bin Laden was being held by Pakistan Inter-Intelligence Services and that US troops were present.

On March 1, Pakistani authorities arrested Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, one of Al Qaeda’s top members.

PAKISTAN’S VERSION: Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister said in Islamabad reports that bin Laden had been arrested in the country were unfounded and baseless.

Other senior government officials also denied the report of his arrest.

“This is absolutely unfounded and absolutely baseless,” Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters.