Pakistani writer Hamad Mir told the ABC network that Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, told him of the bombs in November 2001 after the journalist interviewed bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

In an interview to be broadcast later Monday Mir said he told al-Zawahri it was difficult to believe Al-Qaeda had nuclear weapons when they did not have the equipment to maintain or fire them.

"Dr Ayman al-Zawahri laughed and he said 'Mr Mir, if you have 30 million dollars, go to the black market in central Asia, contact any disgruntled Soviet scientist, and a lot of ... smart briefcase bombs are available'," Mir said in the interview, parts of which were released in advance.

"They have contacted us, we sent our people to Moscow, to Tashkent, to other central Asian states and they negotiated, and we purchased some suitcase bombs," he said.

In articles Mir wrote shortly after interviewing bin Laden, he quoted the Al-Qaeda leader as saying his group had access to nuclear weapons, but without further details.

Western intelligence agencies have dismissed Al-Qaeda claims to have nuclear weapons, although in 2001 documents giving details of how to build a nuclear bomb were found in an Al-Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan.

WAR.WIRE