The US has captured the former driver of Osama bin Laden, The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, is being held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with hundreds of other Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects, Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift told the Florida daily.Hamdan worked for Laden from 1997 until the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, Swift said. Hamdan, however, says he is not a terrorist and is not a member of Al Qaeda, the group responsible for 9/11 attacks, he added.‘‘He fully admits that he was an employee of Laden,’’ Swift said, adding that Hamdan denies being a member of the Al Qaeda. ‘‘He worked for Laden solely for the purpose of supporting himself and his family,’’ Swift said. Hamdan made $200 a month for driving Laden around in a Toyota pickup truck. He worked at bin Laden’s farm in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. ‘‘He is a civilian worker who was caught up in the war,’’ Swift said. —(PTI)
