LA Times says sorry for Tupac story

The Los Angeles Times has issued an apology for a story which linked rapper P Diddy to an assault on Tupac Shakur in 1994.

Citing an unnamed source, the story reported that two former friends of Diddy's were linked to the assault on hip hop star Shakur, and suggested that he knew of the attack before it happened.

But music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs strongly denied the allegations, calling the story a "lie" and "beyond ridiculous and ... completely false."

The move came after a website, which specialises in uncovering news stories from legal documents and court filings, said the FBI documents used by the Times to substantiate the story, were forgeries.

The author of the story, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chuck Philips issued an apology, as did his supervisor, deputy managing editor Marc Duvoisin, just hours after launching an investigation into the claims.

Philips said: "In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job. I'm sorry."

The paper's editor Russ Stanton said he would launch an internal review of the documents and the reporting surrounding the story.

Shakur, one of rap's rising stars, survived a beating and gunshot wounds to the groin, head, hand and thigh at the Quad Recording Studios in New York City in 1994, but was killed in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

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