U.S. Military Denies Rumor That Bin Laden Captured May 22, 2002...

U.S. Military Denies Rumor That Bin Laden Captured

May 22, 2002 04:32 PM ET Email this article Printer friendly version





WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Wednesday denied a rumor circulating on financial markets that fugitive al Qaeda guerrilla leader Osama bin Laden had been captured.

"We have no indication of that whatsoever. I wish it were true," Navy Rear. Adm. Craig Quigley, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Central Command, told Reuters. He responded to questions after the rumor sparked a rise in share prices near the market's closing.

The Central Command, based in Tampa, Florida, has responsibility for the U.S. military-led war against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Rumors regarding the whereabouts of bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding September attacks on America, have circulated for months. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials have said they do not know whether he is alive or dead or whether he has fled Afghanistan for neighboring Pakistan or elsewhere.

Wednesday's denial came in the wake of a series of recent reports in Washington that anti-Western guerrillas were preparing for a possible new major attack on America.

Major market gauges like the Dow Jones industrial average swung into positive territory as the rumor of bin Laden's capture swept through Wall Street's trading desks, three traders told Reuters.

"There was a rumor that bin Laden was captured," said Keith Gertsen, head of Nasdaq trading for Deutsche Bank, citing one reason stocks surged in the last half hour of trading.