BEN LADEN CAPTURED, TEHRAN RADIO
TEHRAN, 28 Feb (IPS) Mr. Osama Ben Laden, the United States most wanted man
had been captured in a tribal region in Pakistan, the Iranian Radio announced on
Saturday.
According to the Radio’s broadcast in Pashtun language, the leader of the al-Qa’eda, believed to have masterminded the attacks on the New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, "the capture of the al-Qa’eda leader has been made sometime before, but (US President George W.) Bush is intending to announce it when the American presidential election is held".
But while a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Minister told a news conference he cannot confirm the news, the U.S. Department of Defense denied the report that despite making headlines in European media, was not confirmed by any other sources and American media generally ignored it.
Pakistan Army is engaged since two weeks ago in large-scale operations in the southern region of Waziristan, concentrating on the Warna area, bordering Afghanistan, believed to be the major hiding place for members of al-Qa’eda, including Mr. Ben Laden and his top commanders and Taleban, the orthodox Muslim who ruled over Afghanistan before being booted out by American forces in November 2001.
Contacted by the official news agency IRNA, an announcer at the Pusthtun service of the State-owned, leader-controlled Radio confirmed the news, which he said, they had got from a "very reliable source" in Peshawar, Pakistan.
But it is not known why such an important news, probably the years biggest "scoop" for any media in the world, was not broadcast in the Radio’s main Farsi-language service.
"Osama Bin Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but Bush is intending to use it for propaganda manoeuvring in the presidential election", he said, adding that the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's recent short trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday had been made "in connection with the capture".
Visiting Kabul on Thursday, Rumsfeld said he believes Osama "will be caught, but has no idea when". ENDS OSAMA CAPTURED 28204