December 1, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 6, 1424

DUBAI, Nov 30: Arab television station Al Arabiya denied on Sunday US allegations that it was linked to insurgents in Iraq and asked American officials to prove the accusations or retract them.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday the United States had gathered compelling evidence that the Dubai-based channel, which had its Baghdad offices closed down, was cooperating with guerrillas fighting the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Rumsfeld also said guerrillas had called in Al Arabiya and its competitor, Al Jazeera, to witness attacks on US-led forces.

“Al Arabiya news channel has never aired any footage of an attack against coalition forces. Its reporters have never been in close proximity to such attacks. Nor have they cooperated with any persons with a view to filming such an attack,” an Al Arabiya statement said.

“Mr Rumsfeld’s allegation is baseless and we invite him to produce the evidence or retract the statement,” it said. Al Jazeera officials were not immediately available for comment.

Iraqi police shut down Al Arabiya’s Baghdad office last week after the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council said it would take legal action against the channel for inciting violence by airing an audio tape purportedly from ousted president Saddam Hussein.—Reuters