Tehran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday accused the US of invading Afghanistan and Iraq on the pretext of Sep 11 terror attacks, repeating his doubts over the veracity of the incident.

Addressing a large gathering Wednesday in the central city of Qom, Ahmadinejad said over one million people have so far been killed in occupied Iraq and tens of thousands of civilians have been massacred in Afghanistan after US forces invaded the two countries, reported the Iranian news agency IRNA.

"Four-five years ago a suspicious incident happened in New York. A building collapsed and they said that 3,000 people had been killed but their names were never published," Ahmadinejad said in his speech.

"Under this pretext they (the US) attacked Afghanistan and Iraq and since then a million people have been killed," he added, without elaborating who was behind the attacks nearly seven years ago.

The Iranian president also said that over one billion people throughout the globe are living in abject poverty and more than 100 million people have been killed in the course of conflicts instigated by "the arrogant power".

Diplomatic relations between Iran and the US were severed in 1980 after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent years due to Tehran's controversial nuclear programme, which the US describes as a cover for Iran's secret weapons programme. Iran insists its nuclear project is for civilian use.

Source : IANS