WASHINGTON, Dec 4: An American magazine has charged that the United States had ignored several offers of cooperation from Sudan in the 90s that would have led to the capture of Osama bin Laden.

An article in the latest issue of Vanity Fair says after bin Laden had settled in Sudan, the authorities there became increasingly suspicious of his activities and believed that he was working on an international terrorist network. They sought to provide information to the US on bin Laden between 1991 and 1996, but their overtures were not seriously considered by American officials.

The author of the Vanity Fair article, David Rose, claimed in an interview with CNN on Monday that his information was based on documented records which clearly stated that intelligence was offered to the US. He also said Sudan had arrested two suspects shortly after the embassy bombings in east Africa and told the US of the arrests, but the Clinton administration had gone ahead and bombed the Al Shifa pharmeuceutical factory.