China Rejects Report Of Bin Laden Raid Chopper Access

Part of the damaged U.S. helicopter is seen lying near the compound where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad in early May.

China has dismissed a report asserting that Pakistan gave it access to an advanced U.S. stealth helicopter that crashed during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

One of two Blackhawk helicopters -- thought to have advanced stealth technology -- crashed during the raid, forcing U.S. commandos to abandon it.

The "Financial Times" reported on August 14 that Pakistani authorities gave China access to the wreckage, despite CIA requests that Islamabad keep the wreckage under wraps.

China's ministry of defense denied the report in a one-sentence statement, Beijing's first public response to the story. The statement on the ministry's website said, "This report is totally unfounded and extremely absurd."

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), the country's top spy agency, and other Pakistani sources have denied the report.

compiled from Reuters reports