The US Department of Defense denied reports by Iran's official IRNA news agency today that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been been captured.
IRNA quoted a story on Iran's state radio Pashtun service which reported "a very reliable source" as saying bin Laden had been captured in a tribal area of Pakistan.
A senior US defense official denied the report, telling reporters it was "another piece of stray voltage that's passing around out there."
Washington says Bin Laden masterminded the September 11th, 2001 suicide hijack attacks in the United States, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
The Iranian correspondent responsible for the report told Reuters the radio had also reported bin Laden's capture a year ago. But said a new source had told him yesterday the al Qaeda leader had been seized "a long time ago".
"It could be one month ago, it could be one year, but he has been arrested," he said.
While declining to reveal his source or how his source knew of the capture, he said: "My source said it and he knows it."
He said the reason US officials had denied the report was so that they could time the release of the news of bin Laden's capture to help boost President George W. Bush's chances of re-election at presidential polls in November.