US and British special units are hunting for Osama Bin Laden in Kashmir, a British daily reported on Saturday, adding that intelligence reports said members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant group were protecting him.
US Delta Force soldiers and British Special Air Service (SAS) troops have formed a 40-man operation in an attempt to hunt down Bin Laden, who is suspected of masterminding the September 11 attacks on US cities, The Daily Telegraphreported.
However, the Indian defence ministry on Saturday described as 'rubbish' this report. "There is no question of allowing American or British or any foreign troops into Jammu and Kashmir. The report is totally incorrect and baseless," a defence ministry spokesman said in New Delhi. He said he could not comment on whether American and British forces could be operating in Kashmir.
Indian intelligence told the US Central Intelligence Agency in January that they believed Bin Laden was hiding in Kashmir's Himalayan mountains, and was being protected there, the British newspaper added.
The report said the special forces teams were employing a range of high-tech devices to hunt Bin Laden.
A spy satellite above the Indian Ocean operated by US and British intelligence is being used to monitor possible communications between Bin Laden and members of his al-Qaeda network, it added. (Albawaba.com)
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