Both the United States and Pakistan on Saturday denied reports of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden's capture along Pak-Afghan border.
 
Iran's state radio on Saturday quoted unnamed sources saying that the Al Qaeda leader was captured in Pakistan 'a long time back.'

A Pakistani army spokesman almost immediately denied the report.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood, however, declined to deny or confirm the report. "I cannot confirm it. They [the security forces] made an effort [to capture him] but [I] cannot confirm it," Kasuri said at a joint press conference with visiting French Foreign  Minister Dominique Devilpan.

The Haaretz daily Web site said the radio report quoted 'knowledgeable sources' but did not specify when bin Laden was captured.

The radio report said that bin Laden was apprehended in a region populated by tribes along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It added that US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Pakistan on Thursday was related to the capture of the Al Qaeda leader.