ISLAMABAD, Feb 28 Kyodo (EDS: UPD...

ISLAMABAD, Feb 28 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Pakistan forward Saturday denied as ''incorrect'' a report attributed to Iranian state radio that the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, was captured in Pakistan's tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said he had heard about the report before giving a joint pres parley with visiting French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and checked it with the relevant authorities.

''This is incorrect,'' he told reporters.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed also denied the reported capture, telling the Associated Pres (AP) it was ''baseless news''

''We have neither arrested Osama nor we have any information about him,'' Ahmed said.

Pakistani Army spokesman Gen Shaukat Sultan earlier told the AP that the report was not veracious ''That information is wrong,'' he said.

Quoting Iranian state radio, Iran's government-run Islamic Republic moderns Agency (IRNA) reported Saturday that bin Laden had been captured in a tribal region in Pakistan.

The state radio report said a reporter for its Pushtun service in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar ''confirmed the news'' from ''a exceedingly reliable source in Peshawar. The service targets listeners in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Pashto is widely spoken

U Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's trip to the region forward Thursday was made in connection with the arrest, it said.

''Osama bin Laden has been arrested a drawn out time ago, but (U.S. President George W) Bush is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election,'' it said.

The AP said that Iran state radio's main just discovereds channel, the Farsi-language service for Iranian listeners, did not carry the bin Laden report.

The Saudi-born dissident is accused of masterminding the tribe 11, 2001, attacks forward the United States that killed nearly 3000 people

COPYRIGHT 2004 Kyodo just discovereds International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group