http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030307.wsons0307/BNStory/Front
Islamabad — A junior Pakistani government minister said Friday that two elder sons of Osama bin Laden had been captured in a bloody operation in Afghanistan. The White House immediately cast doubt on the report, though CNBC later cited government sources allegedly confirming that a single son had been captured.
Both reports were disputed by the Pakistani Interior Minister. And Reuters has quoted Abdul Karim Barawi, governor of the Afghan province in question, saying that U.S. troops are present in his area but that "they have not started any operation."
Baluchistan home minister Sanaullah Zehri made his claim on a privately owned television station and repeated it in a telephone interview.
"They were arrested from Rabat area in Afghanistan," Mr. Zehri said. he did not identify exacly who had been nabbed, but said that seven other al-Qaeda suspects had been killed in the operation.
U.S. counterterrorism officials initially said that that they had no information that would suggest that any of the sons had been detained. There was no immediate substantiation of the CNCB report.
Mr. bin Laden's eldest son, Saad, has been tipped as a possible successor at the head of al-Qaeda and is on the FBI's most-wanted list.