No welcome for bin Laden lookalike

Osama bin Laden is the world's most wanted man

BHUBANESHWAR, India -- An unemployed villager who looks like Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was ordered out of an Indian town after he started to draw crowds.

The 45-year-old man with a flowing beard and slim frame drew attention as soon as he arrived on Monday at Daspalla, 100 km (60 miles) from Bhubaneshwar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa, seeking work.

"The action was taken in good faith to prevent any kind of communal tensions," a local official told Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

India, which has one of the world's largest Muslim populations, has been on the alert since the U.S.-led coalition began strikes on Afghanistan's ruling Taliban for sheltering bin Laden, wanted for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The U.S.-led air strikes have entered their fifth week, with no sign yet of bin Laden or his al Qaeda network. Various sightings across the region have turned out to be false alarms.