Posted on 03/08/2003 3:40:29 AM PST by Bad~Rodeo
Federal Minister, US and Afghans Refute The Claim.
ISLAMABAD: Two sons of Osama bin Laden were arrested in southeastern Afghanistan in a joint operation involving Pakistani and US forces, Balochistan Home Minister Sanaullah Zehri said on Friday.
"I am in constant touch with the security forces. I was informed by intelligence agencies that the reports coming across the border (from Afghanistan) are that two of Osama's sons were caught and they were injured," Zehri told reporters
"They were arrested from Rabat area in Afghanistan," Zehri told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Speaking to reporters in Balochistan, Zehri said the two sons arrested were Saad and Hamza bin Laden.
He said the sons may have been injured in the operation that reportedly killed seven other al-Qaeda activists. Zehri refused to say which military units were involved.
"They were allied forces," he said, operating near Rabat in the extreme southwestern tip of Afghanistan where it borders Pakistan and Iran. Some sources claim Bin Laden has at least 23 children by several wives. Saad is one the oldest, in his early 20s and has emerged as an al-Qaida leader and one of America's top two dozen targets in the network.
Washington Disputes
But in Washington, US counter terrorism officials strongly disputed the report, saying they had no information that would suggest any of the sons had been detained. "It's not true," said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We have absolutely no information to substantiate that," the official said.
At the Pentagon, two senior officials said they could not confirm that sons of bin Laden had been arrested. They said they did not know if the report was correct, but that there was no indication of the US military involvement in such an operation.
Contradiction in Federal and Provincial Positions
Taking the same stand as of the Washington, Pakistan’s Federal Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told AFP "there is absolutely no truth in this report. There has been no arrest of this nature," dismissing claims by provincial Home Minister Sanaullah Zehri.
The contradictions in the statements of various officials indicate that no one is sure about the identities of any of the persons arrested in the area. Everybody arrested on any pretext is just an “al-Qaeda” activist and for these officials it is enough to keep innocent arrested people behind the bars for years and years.
Afghan Denial
A senior Afghan regional government official on Friday denied the report. "I have spoken to Afghan forces operating in the area where they are supposed to have been captured, and nothing like this has happened," said Abdul Karim Barohi, the governor of southwestern Nimroz province.
The Afghan military commander in Rabat, Haji Eid Muhammad, also denied the arrests. "No. That is not correct," he said and added "My people are patrolling with the Americans and for a long time there has been no large American military operation here."
Meanwhile, the hunt for Osama bin Laden intensified on Friday along Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan, as a senior official warned that he could not hide for much longer if information from top terror suspect Khalid Sheikh was correct.
"What we are doing is to scour the area in light of what we have been told by Khalid Sheikh and the information found in documents seized during the raid," a senior security official who is closely involved in al-Qaeda investigations told AFP, on condition of anonymity. "The hunt is definitely on in the northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan. It is also going on in other parts of the region," he added.
The hunt had also stepped up for bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian physician, in Balochistan. Among the vast trove of data found on Khalid Sheikh were documents indicating that al-Zawahri was hiding in Balochistan. "The hunt is definitely on for (al-Zawahri)," the official said.
"The documents recovered in the raid suggested he was in Balochistan. How recently, we are not certain. "Most of the documents indicating possible whereabouts of the two top operatives are undated," he said. The documents included undated handwritten letters in Arabic, which investigators said matched bin Laden's handwriting.
The stories have been the same from Reuters, AP and Monsoor Ijaz: Firefight, people killed , heavy machine gun fire, arrests made of possible wounded "bin laden", (sons or father).
Too much smoke for no flame
Now THAT sounds like a challenge....L~
True Statement....
...I've never heard of Balochistan.
QUETTA March 08 (NNI): Two sons of Osama bin Laden, chief of al-Qaeda network have been arrested in southeastern Afghanistan near Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran borders, Balochistan Provincial Home Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri said on Friday.
At least nine suspected al-Qaeda members have been killed in a joint operation involving US special forces and Afghan troops.
Zehri said that US and Afghan troops took part in the operation against supporters of bin Laden in the Ribat area.
Rabat is at the extreme tip of southwestern Afghanistan where the Afghan, Pakistan and Iran borders meet.
The arrested were identified as Saad bin Laden and Hamza bin Laden, the two sons of Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden is believed to have 14 to 18 sons. Saad bin Laden, the eldest, is on top of the US list of the most wanted and had been tipped by bin Laden to replace him.
"The people killed belonged to al-Qaeda," he said. "Pakistani forces did not take part in the operation...it is an Afghan area."
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