Laden with doubt

A senior US defence official denied the report, saying it was 8216;8216;another piece of stray voltage passing around out there8217;8217;. Larry Di Rita, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said: 8216;8216;I don8217;t have any reason to think it8217;s true.8217;8217;

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri declined to confirm the report. 8216;8216;I cannot confirm it. They the officials made an effort to capture him,8217;8217; Kasuri said at a joint press meet with French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin. Homayoun Jarir, son-in-law of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said he could not confirm the report.

While Shamim Shahed, the Bureau Chief for The Nation in Peshawar, was cited by the director of IRNA8217;s Pashtun service as the source, the correspondent declined to confirm. Shahed denied in an AP interview ever telling IRNA that Laden had been held: 8216;8216;I never said this, but I have been saying that he is8230; within reach, and they can declare him arrested any time.8221;