Pakistan Scoffs at Bin Laden Nuclear Link http://news1.iwon.com/article/id/180067|top|10-26-2001::12:30|reuters.ht ml October 26, 2001 12:20 pm EST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan dismissed as absurd British media reports on Friday that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the bloody September 11 attacks on the United States, had obtained nuclear material from Islamabad. The Times newspaper and Channel Four television quoted Western intelligence sources as saying the Saudi-born dissident had obtained the material illegally from Pakistan, a nuclear capable country. They said there was concern he could try to release radioactive material through a non-explosive "dirty bomb." A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said the allegation was absurd. "Our nuclear materials are in very safe hands, these are absurd allegations," spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told Reuters. Pre-empting further speculation, Khan also denied that two retired nuclear scientists, currently in "protective custody," had been arrested on suspicion of giving out nuclear information. "Absolutely not," he said. Bashiruddin Mahmood and another colleague were recently picked up by the intelligence services. Khan said they had been questioned in relation to a non governmental organization they ran that worked in Afghanistan and had not been arrested. RANGE OF WEAPONS The Times and Channel Four said that bin Laden and his al Qaeda network of Islamic extremists, which operates out of neighboring Afghanistan, did not have the technology to make a nuclear bomb. Citing an "informed source," the Times said bin Laden appeared to have amassed a "terrifying" range of weapons, although the source said a nuclear attack was still beyond him. Bin Laden could also be behind the spate of anthrax outbreaks terrifying the American public, although the FBI has yet to produce any conclusive links. Both President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have given regular warnings that bin Laden would wreak even greater destruction if he could. However, Blair's Downing Street office urged the public not to be unduly worried by the reports. "We believe that bin Laden and his al Qaeda network would if they could develop a nuclear capability, but people should treat with extreme skepticism any reports that he has such a capability," a spokesman told Reuters. Independent experts said it was unlikely bin Laden could have developed a nuclear capability. "The barriers to being able to gain nuclear or even radiological capability are very high," said John Gearson, senior lecturer in defense studies at King's College in London. "The talk of nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism is a classic scenario of us terrorizing ourselves. The fear of these threats is greater than the fear of what we know they can do," Gearson added. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
