Two of terror leader Osama bin Laden's sons were today reported to have been wounded and captured in an Afghan gun battle involving US troops.
But in Washington a White House official cast doubt on the report, saying: "We, in fact, think it's wrong.
However, Pakistan's provincial home minister Sanaullah Zehri said the two - Saad and Hamza bin Laden - were arrested yesterday in south-western Afghanistan in a joint operation involving Pakistani and US forces, "They were arrested from Rabat area in Afghanistan," Zehri said in a telephone interview.
Zehri said they sons may have been injured in the operation, that reportedly killed seven other al-Qaeda men.
Saad, believed to be 23 years old and bin Laden's eldest son, is also on the American most-wanted list and has been said to be a rising star in the terror network.
Zehri refused to say which military units were involved.
"They were allied forces," he said, operating near Rabat in the extreme south-western tip of Afghanistan where it borders Pakistan and Iran.
Some sources claim bin Laden has at least 23 children by several wives.
The reported capture of bin Laden's sons came within a week of the arrest in Pakistan of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Mohammed, the number three al-Qaeda leader and suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was caught during a raid near Islamabad on Saturday.
He has reportedly told his interrogators that bin Laden is alive and well and living in the lawless border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
And he said he had met the terrorist leader just weeks ago in Pakistan's Baluchistan province after arranging a rendezvous through a complicated network of phone calls, runners and intermediaries.
PA