Islambad, Pakistan ? Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said in a television interview broadcast Thursday that his fighters helped al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden escape intense U.S. bombing in 2001 in the Tora Bora mountains.

Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and leader of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group, told Pakistan’s private Geo TV network that when the United States began its assault on the rugged Afghan mountains five years ago, some of his fighters moved bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and other associates to “a safe place” where he met them later.

He did not say where they found the shelter. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are believed to still be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border after the heavy U.S. pounding failed to kill them or lead to their capture.

In the interview, Hekmatyar insisted he has not maintained links with al-Qaida.