Reports that US President George W Bush will announce the arrest of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden at a press conference on Thursday are incorrect, according to the White House.

"I think it was just a rumour," a White House spokesman said on Thursday.

Pakistani daily The Frontier Post had quoted sources as saying that bin Laden was suspected to be among nine Al Qaeda terrorists held near Shamshi airport in Kharian district of Baluchistan on Thursday.

Al Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was arrested with two of his colleagues in Rawalpindi last week, could have told investigators about the whereabouts of bin Laden, the daily said.

Sheikh Mohammed had reportedly told the investigators that bin Laden had met him in the mountainous regions near Baluchistan.

Pakistani officials said they did not know about the arrests. "I don't have any information about this operation. I can't say anything," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was quoted as saying.

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