Monday, July 11 2005 11:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan has said, no one knows about the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden or his top deputy and they could be anywhere including neighbouring Afghanistan.

"They (al-Qaeda leaders) could be anywhere in the world, including Afghanistan," Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said refuting the reported claim by Afghan Defence Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardai's words, "Al-Qaeda leaders were likely to be present in Pakistan".

What is more important is, the efforts being made by Pakistan in fighting international terrorism, Jilani was quoted as saying by the official Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, yesterday (July 10, 2005).

Wardai had yesterday said that, Osama, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar were "continuously moving and do not stay in one place for a long time. But it is more likely they are on the other side of the border,"

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Friday that, Osama bin Laden is not in Afghanistan, adding that his government has no idea of his whereabouts.