Zarqawi not in Iran, report false: Official

Quoting an insurgency commander in Iraq, the Sunday Times said Zarqawi had shrapnel in his chest and may have been moved to Iran. It said supporters might try to move the Jordanian-born militant to another country for an operation.

A posting on Friday on the Internet site for Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the group led by the Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, reversed two days of dire warnings on al-Zarqawi’s condition and stated that he is ‘‘in good health and runs the jihad operation by himself,’’ according to the SITE Institute, a group that tracks the postings.

Zarqawi, accused of masterminding suicide bombings, ambushes and assassinations in Iraq, was wounded three weeks ago when a US missile hit his convoy near the Iraqi city of al-Qaim, Sunday Times quoted the unnamed source as saying. Washington has offered a $25 million bounty for Zarqawi.

The US has accused Iran of harbouring Qaeda militants who escaped Afghanistan after US troops invaded in 2001 after 9/11. Tehran acknowledges that Qaeda members have managed to cross its borders but denies providing safe-haven to Qaeda members. — Reuters

Musharraf should explain N-bomb comment: Iran

Tehran: Iran on Sunday demanded that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf explain his claim that Tehran was keen to obtain a nuclear bomb, repeating its assertion that it only wants to generate electricity.

In an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine published yesterday, Musharraf was quoted as saying that Iran was “very anxious to have the bomb” — at odds with Tehran’s repeated denials. The Pakistani leader nevertheless stated his opposition to a preventive attack on the fellow-Muslim nation, saying military action would be “a disaster”. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said he believed it was “very unlikely that Mr Musharraf said such a thing, because he knows better”. “We hope the Pakistanis explain that this report was distorted,” Asefi said. “I would say there was a distortion, and it is unlikely that such comments were made…. It is not the business of other countries to comment in this regard. “ —AFP/PTI