Musharraf: Al-Qaeda in Pakistan too weak to direct attacks

ISLAMABAD, Tuesday (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf said Al-Qaeda was now a worldwide phenomenon but denied the terror group was strong enough in Pakistan to have orchestrated the London and Sharm el-Sheikh bombings.

Even as police investigate possible Pakistani links to both attacks, Musharraf said his country had broken the back of Al-Qaeda and captured more than 700 militants loyal to Osama bin Laden.

"It has no command structure originating from Pakistan and conveying messages to the whole world to do this act and do that act under total coordination of some commander," he said.

"Is it possible that an Al-Qaeda man sitting here is controlling events in London or Sharm el-Sheikh or other parts of the world?" he told journalists in the eastern city of Lahore late Tuesday. "This is absolutely wrong."

Egyptian police on Monday said they were searching for six Pakistani suspects in connection with Saturday's attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh that killed at least 88 people.

Musharraf said suggestions that Al-Qaeda was headquartered in Pakistan were "absolutely and totally baseless" and that his government had smashed the group's structure.

"Wherever we find them, we attack them - their vertical and horizontal linkages have been broken," Musharraf said, adding that Al-Qaeda had now become a "state of mind" that could not be defeated by military means alone.