Taliban protests bin Laden’s innocence

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have rejected claims that bin Laden was behind today’s attacks on New York and Washington.

They say bin Laden did not have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks.

Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan. Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a warning from Islamic fundamentalists close to Bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously.

“They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify,” he said today in London.