Islamabad, Mar. 1 (AP): Pakistan has rejected the U.S. intelligence chief's claims that Osama bin Laden and his deputy are hiding in the country, and that al-Qaida is setting up camps near the Afghan border.

New U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Monday that al-Qaida is trying to set up training camps and other operations in Pakistan tribal areas near Afghanistan.

McConnell had also said U.S. intelligence officials believe bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are hiding in northwestern Pakistan and trying to establish an operations base there.

"We deny it," Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said yesterday, referring to McConnell's remarks.

Sherpao said there are no al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan, and that the U.S. officials had not shared any such

Sherpao said that Pakistan was a front-line state in the war on terror, and that it is "fighting the scourge of terrorism in the best interest of Pakistan."

He asked Washington for "solid intelligence" on the whereabouts of Bin Laden, al-Zawahri or any al-Qaida camps.

"We will act on any such intelligence, but so far they have not done it (provided any)," he said.