The Los Angeles Times has retracted a story it published about the 1994 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur because it contained information the publication “no longer believes to be credible.”

The article, entitled ‘An Attack on Tupac Shakur Launched a Hip-Hop War’, was published last month and claimed fellow hip-hop star P Diddy was involved in the attack.

P Diddy, whose real name is Sean Coombs, dismissed the claims as “beyond ridiculous” and “a lie” in a statement.

The retraction, which comes a week after the newspaper offered an official apology, concluded that evidence offered in the article had come from “fabricated” FBI reports.

The paper said it specifically wished to "correct that misimpression" that Coombs was involved in the incident.

“Any statements or implications suggesting that Combs was given advance knowledge of the assault on Shakur, or played any role in it, are specifically retracted,” the paper insisted.

Shakur was killed two years later in a separate shooting in Las Vegas.

(by Jason Gregory)