Al-Zawahiri not in Pakistan: Gilani

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Ayman al-Zawahiri is not in Pakistan, said Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, challenging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remark that the al-Qaeda chief was there.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian cleric, became the new al-Qaeda chief after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad town on May 2 in 2011.

"Why should I think he (Zawahiri) is in Pakistan?" he asked the Daily Telegraph.

"You have claimed that somebody has said that he is in Pakistan: if there is any information, please share with us," he was quoted as saying.

"We don't think so," said Gilani in London when he was asked for his own view on whether the al-Qaeda chief was in Pakistan.

On May 7, during her three-day trip to India, Hillary Clinton had categorically said that Zawahiri was in Pakistan.

Clinton had said in Kolkata: "We want to disable al-Qaeda. We believe Zawahiri is in Pakistan."

"You have to go over those who are trying to kill you. You have to be focused on that."