Pakistan rejects report about Bin Laden's presence on its soil

Kabul, Oct 19 (ANI): Pakistan has rejected the report that the world's most wanted terrorists and Al-Qaeda's top leaders Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have been living comfortably in the country's northwest region.

"I categorically deny the report about the presence of Osama bin Laden or Ayman Al Zawahiri or even Mullah Omar in Pakistan," the Dawn quoted Interior Minister Rehman Malik, as saying to reporters.

"Bin Laden... and all other terrorists are anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan and hired assassins. If we have any information we will take action against them," he added.

A foreign ministry official also dismissed the report as "baseless," and alleged that it had been "put out to malign Pakistan".

Meanwhile, a NATO spokesman in Kabul said the alliance had no immediate comment.

Earlier, a news channel had reported that Laden and Zawahiri were believed to be hiding close to each other in houses in northwest Pakistan, though not together.

"Nobody in al Qaeda is living in a cave," the CNN quoted the official, as saying, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the intelligence matters involved.

Rather, they are believed to be living in relative comfort, protected by locals and some members of the Pakistani intelligence services, the official added. (ANI)