Pakistan: U.S. Official's Osama Claim Was "Political statement"

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20040907/ts_nm/security_pakistan_osama_dc

Pakistan: U.S. Official's Osama Claim Was 'Political'

Tue Sep 7, 8:05 AM ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan Tuesday dismissed a claim by a U.S. counter-terrorism official that the United States and its allies were closing in on the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani media Sunday quoted Cofer Black, State Department coordinator for counter-terrorism, as saying that the United States and its allies have put the al Qaeda leader on the defensive, increasing chances of his capture soon. But Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Black's remarks were a "political statement."

"We don't have any information about that," Ahmed told Reuters by telephone from Saudi Arabia where he is accompanying Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on an official visit.<snip>

Pakistani officials play down such hopes, saying the pair's whereabouts is still a mystery, although it is often said they are probably holed up in the mountainous region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

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