NAIROBI (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Somali President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan Monday denied media reports that Osama bin Laden had bases in his country and reaffirmed his commitment to combating terrorism. Abdiqassim was responding to reports in the Washington Post and other media that the United States was considering strikes against alleged bases of bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Somalia in its war against terrorism.
``We have been surprised to see an internationally reputable newspaper printing false allegations against my country,'' Abdiqassim told a news conference in the Kenyan capital.
``The first time in my life I heard of al Qaeda was after 11th September,'' Abdiqassim said. ``We know also that Somali people will not permit foreign terrorist bases on Somali soil.''
Abdiqassim was elected president by a conference of clan elders last year, but has so far failed to convince many of the country's rival warlords to accept his rule.
He controls only pockets of the capital Mogadishu and little of the rest of the country. Most of the main warlords have formed a rival government called the Somali Reconciliation and Reconstruction Council.
The Washington Post reported on November 4 that a debate in the U.S. administration on where next to take its anti-terrorism campaign had begun to focus on ``terrorist centers'' in Somalia.
U.S. officials reportedly view anarchic Somalia as a possible haven for militants exploiting the breakdown of order since the overthrow of Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.