A State Department ad offering millions in rewards contains inaccurate information about hijacking ringleader Mohamed Atta, while a Pentagon leaflet dropped in Afghanistan includes a photo purporting to be Osama bin Laden in a suit and tie without a beard.

State Department officials acknowledged the reward money ad running across the United States gives apparent details about Atta that actually were borrowed from other terrorism suspects, or were inaccurate.

The ad's creators "took some liberties with some of the content," said a State Department official, who asked not to be identified.

Separately, the Pentagon released copies of the leaflets but could not immediately say who was in the picture, whether it was bin Laden or whether it was intended to deceive people into thinking bin Laden had abandoned his religious beliefs and had shaved his beard. The government said the leaflets are being dropped by U.S. planes.

The State Department ad, part of the "Rewards for Justice" program, is being run in newspapers across the country. The text surrounding Atta's picture says he "wanted to learn to fly but didn't need to take off and land." That statement has never been attributed to Atta. It was widely attributed to Zacarias Moussaoui, the man charged as the "20th hijacker."

Charlotte Beers, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, said when the ad campaign was unveiled last month that "we're talking about clues that might have led you to spot someone like Mohamed Atta."

One leaflet being dropped by U.S. planes shows bin Laden with turban and beard and says he "laughs at you because you don't know he has sent you to your death."

The other shows what appears to be a clean-shaven bin Laden, wearing short hair and a Western suit and tie - an image that might offend followers of his and the Taliban's fanatical version of Islam. There have been rumors among Afghans that bin Laden has shaved or used a disguise to slip out of the country.

"Osama bin Laden the murderer and coward has abandoned you!" the leaflet says.

AP