Media in Pakistan was taken for a ride on Wednesday when a press release was issued on a Foreign Office letterhead, saying Al Qaeda terrorist Moazam Musa Matwali Atta was killed by Pakistani forces in Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.
The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday denied issuing any such statement over the death of the Al Qaeda terrorist wanted by the US in connection with the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Nairobi and Tanzania. It said the news was released on a stolen letterhead.
Newspapers and wire services had received a release on Wednesday, with a number on the letterhead of the Foreign Ministry, saying that US authorities have confirmed that Moazam Musa Matwali Atta had been killed in an encounter with security forces in North Waziristan in April.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told a private television channel on Thursday that the Ministry has released no such news and added the statement was on a fake letterhead stolen from the computer network of the Ministry, after breaking into the system.
Asked to confirm the news about Atta's killing, she said, "If you are asking with reference to probably the issued press release by the foreign office, confirming the death of Al Qaeda activist, no, we have not. Let me clarify that we have not issued any press release of this nature."
Meanwhile, the CIA has said that it has been established after a DNA test that Atta, 42, an Egyptian national had been killed in an encounter with Pakistani security forces in North Waziristan early this year, NNI news agency reported.
The FBI later deleted his name and photo posted on its website of most wanted people. He reportedly undertook training in high explosive in Afghanistan and Sudan.
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