Iranian security forces have arrested one of Osama bin Laden's sons among several hundred people suspected of links to the al-Qaeda terror network, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
Citing an unidentified Iranian official, the newspaper said Iran had handed bin Laden's son over to authorities in either Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. The newspaper is to publish the story in its Monday edition, AP reported. Bin Laden has at least 23 children by several wives.
The official quoted by the Financial Times did not identify the son he said was detained. He reportedly said the man was captured with a group of people suspected of having links to al-Qaeda as they fled Afghanistan.
In Iran, vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi told The Associated Press early Sunday that he was aware of the report, but "wouldn't confirm it unless credible information is available."
Leading lawmaker Ali Shakouri-Rad, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, said he had no information on the issue. He added that it would be in Iran's interests to announce the capture if it were true.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Anne Marks said, "We are aware of the report and are looking into it."
Meanwhile, the youngest wife of Osama bin Laden has been arrested following a gun battle at her father's compound in the republic of Yemen, according to The Sunday Times.
Amal al-Saddah, Osama bin Laden's fifth and favorite wife, who is in her early twenties, has been placed under house arrest and questioned by Yemeni authorities, the paper said.
Arab diplomats told the British weekly that shooting broke out at the family home in Ibb, south of the capital of Sana'a, when security forces arrived last month. "She (al-Saddah) escaped from her hiding place in southern Afghanistan which he (bin Laden) had made his base, only to find herself closely guarded under house arrest in her father's compound," the paper said.
Additionally, her father and brother have been taken into custody. It is not known what charges the men face - only that they were detained by the security forces, the paper added. "Yemen is doing everything it can to co-operate with the Americans," one expert Yemeni source told the paper. "But they have to balance this with trying not to upset the tribes," the source added. (Albawaba.com)
(Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
