ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Two sons of Osama bin Laden were captured in southeastern Afghanistan in a joint operation involving Pakistani and U.S. forces, Pakistan's provincial home minister Sanaullah Zehri said, yet U.S. officials strongly disagreed with the report.
"They were arrested from Rabat area in Afghanistan," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He did not identify the sons, but said that seven other al-Qaeda men were killed in the operation.
Arrested were Saad and Hamza bin Laden, two of what are believed to be 14 to 18 sons of Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Saad is believed closely tied to the operations of al-Qaeda.
In Washington, U.S. counterterrorism officials strongly disputed reports saying bin Laden's sons were captured. They said they had no information that would suggest any of the sons had been detained.
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