BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq rejected claims that its outgoing ambassador to Turkey had met with Osama bin Laden, labeling such reports as ``American-Zionist propaganda'' against Arab and Islamic countries.
The United States has alleged that Farouk Hijazi met with bin Laden, America's prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in 1998 in Kandahar, southeastern Afghanistan, where bin Laden had training camps.
``During the dates mentioned in the accusations, Hijazi was serving in Turkey and the Turkish government is aware of this fact,'' an unidentified Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday.
As Hijazi left Ankara for Baghdad on Friday, he told reporters that ``neither in Turkey, nor outside do we have such a relationship,'' adding that he was returning to Iraq ``because my mission has ended.''
The Iraqi spokesman said Hijazi, who was posted to Ankara three years ago, had ended his term two months earlier and had been recalled to Baghdad for ``another diplomatic mission.''
Hijazi's alleged meeting with bin Laden is the second suspected link between Iraqi intelligence and those implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks. Mohamed Atta, believed to be one of the hijackers of a plane that slammed into the World Trade Center, is said to have met in April with an Iraqi intelligence agent in the Czech capital Prague.
Hijazi worked for the Iraqi National Insurance Company until 1970, a former company colleague said on condition of anonymity. Hijazi was widely believed to have then joined Iraqi intelligence, the colleague said.