Tuesday, July 26 2005 10:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday (July 25, 2005) said al-Qaeda's command and communication system has been eliminated, and that the network could not have orchestrated terrorist attacks in London, Egypt or elsewhere from Pakistan.

President Pervez Musharraf's remarks followed reports that Egyptian police are looking for six Pakistanis as the probe widens into the deadly weekend bombings in Egypt's resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.

Musharraf told journalists in the eastern city of Lahore that al-Qaeda 'sanctuaries' in Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been overrun, and that security forces have captured 700 of its fighters.

However, Musharraf said small groups of al-Qaida militants might still be hiding in the country's rugged North and South Waziristan tribal regions, bordering Afghanistan. Military experts believe Osama bin Laden could be hiding in the area.

"We have shattered and eliminated their command system there," Musharraf said. "We attack them when we see them in the mountains."

He said al-Qaeda's communication system has been reduced to a 'courier network,' and a message now takes two months to move up or down the network's hierarchy.

"Is it possible, in this situation, that an al-Qaeda man sitting here, no matter who he is, may control things in London, Sharm el-Sheik, Istanbul or Africa? This is absolutely wrong," he said.