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Washington: Terrorist leaders Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar are directing insurgency operations from Pakistan, a senior US official has said.
Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al Zawahri are operating from Pakistan's tribal areas (Fata) near the border with Afghanistan, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq rejected the US official's assertion and said Pakistan did not know where the militant leaders were.
"If there is any actionable intelligence it should be shared with the government of Pakistan so that they can be neutralised," Sadiq said.
"If he was right, he would claim the bounty money, not speak to the media," he said, referring to US reward money for information leading to arrest of the militants.
The US official said that "Mullah Omar is giving strategic direction for the Taliban from Quetta, [while] Al Qaida senior leadership is in the FATA doing its planning."
"The iconic leaders of Al Qaida—Zawahri, Bin Laden and people like [Abu Laith] Al-Libi are in the tribal areas of Pakistan," the official added.
Libi was killed in January in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan border area.
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