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Bin Laden, at a training camp at a secret location, aims a weapon. This image is taken from a video made by his organisation
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An aide to Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden said the militant leader had denied any role in Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States, an Arab journalist in Pakistan said today.
Mr Jamal Ismail, the bureau chief of Abu Dhabi Television, told reporters the aide - who did not want to be named - called him from an undisclosed location by satellite phone yesterday to issue the denial.
The aide quoted Bin Laden as calling the attacks on US landmarks in New York and Washington as punishment from almighty Allah. He added that Bin Laden said: I have no information about the attackers or their aims and I don't have any links with them".
US investigators have pointed the finger at Bin Laden - who lives in exile in Afghanistan - for involvement in Tuesday's attacks.
The dissident is wanted in the United States for trial on previous charges that he masterminded the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in East Africa that killed more than nearly 300 people and injured over 5,000.
Earlier, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban denied a report Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden had been put under house arrest.
Taliban sources in Kabul told the agency that news stories reporting Bin Laden or any of his associates have been arrested are false and fabricated, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency said.
Arabic online newspaper Ilaf, quoting fundamentalist Arab sources, said the Taliban have arrested Osama Bin Laden and placed him under surveillance with several of his assistants.
The Taliban have always refused demands he be turned over to US authorities to face trial for previous alleged attacks on the United States.
The Taliban believe neither Bin Laden nor his group are not involved in this enormous act [attacking the United States] as there are complete restrictions on communications and such acts cannot be done without communications, AIP said.
Residents were reported to have evacuated the Afghan capital Kabul today as others began digging trenches in anticipation of possible US retaliation.
Other residents said they had seen people digging trenches on the outskirts of the city and that other fortifications were being built.