Saudi Denies Link to Embassy Blasts
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile accused of masterminding the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, says he’s innocent of the attacks but not sorry they occurred, a Pakistani news agency reported Thursday.
The comments were his first public denial of involvement in the August bombings, which killed a total of 224 people in Tanzania and Kenya.
“I was not involved in the bomb blasts . . . but I don’t regret what happened there,” Bin Laden was quoted as saying by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, the independent News Network International reported.
The Saudi billionaire has been living in exile in Afghanistan, and the Taliban religious army, which rules most of the country, has until now refused to let him make public statements.
The Taliban said Bin Laden made the comment to a reporter from the Afghan news agency Bakhtar and a Pakistani journalist, the news agency reported.
The United States has accused Bin Laden of masterminding the bombings. A U.S. court has indicted him, and Washington has demanded his extradition.
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