Пентагон опровергает сообщения о поимке Бен Ладена
"TEHRAN (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense denied reports by Iran's official IRNA news agency Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been captured.
IRNA quoted a story on Iran's state radio Pashtun service which reported "a very reliable source" as saying bin Laden had been captured in a tribal area of Pakistan.
A senior U.S. defense official denied the report, telling Reuters it was "another piece of stray voltage that's passing around out there." "
"The Iranian correspondent responsible for the report told Reuters the radio had also reported bin Laden's capture a year ago. But said a new source had told him Friday the al Qaeda leader had been seized "a long time ago."
"It could be one month ago, it could be one year, but he has been arrested," he said.
While declining to reveal his source or how his source knew of the capture, he said: "My source said it and he knows it."
He said the reason U.S. officials had denied the report was so that they could time the release of the news of bin Laden's capture to help boost President Bush's chances of re-election at presidential polls in November. "
