Bin Laden left Kandahar after hijacked plane landed — Report

ISLAMABAD, DECEMBER 30: Alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden left Kandahar shortly after the hijacked Indian Airlines plane landed in the sou...

ISLAMABAD, DECEMBER 30: Alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden left Kandahar shortly after the hijacked Indian Airlines plane landed in the southern Afghan city on Christmas day, a Pakistani daily reported on Thursday.

The Frontier Post, quoting a source close to the wealthy Saudi dissident, also claimed bin Laden had "denied any links to the hijacking of the plane."

The source branded any allegations to the contrary as "Indian propaganda" and "a pack of lies."

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Bin Laden had not been aware of the hijacking nor had he any relationship with the hijackers, the source told the daily.

It has become a "fashion for certain countries" to blame bin Laden for crimes he never committed, the source told the paper, published from the northwestern city of Peshawar near the Afghanistan border.

Bin Laden has been charged in the United States with the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August last year in which 224 people died.

Earlier this month the US issued fresh warnings to its citizens about possible attacks against US interests during the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Washington wants Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia to hand over bin Laden.