PAKISTAN: AL-QAEDA HAS DIRTY BOMB, REPORT SAYS
Islamabad, 2 May (AKI) - Osama bin Laden possesses a "dirty bomb" and nuclear devices bought on the Russian black market prior to 2001, according to Hamid Mir, the journalist who interviewed bin Laden shortly after the 11 September attacks. "Material useful for building a dirty bomb was smuggled from Russia to Georgia and then on to Afghanistan," Mir said in an interview with the website of satellite network al-Arabiya. He added that the device was built with various materials, including uranium, by an Egyptian engineer known as Saad. "I met this engineer only once, in 2000, when the Taliban controlled Kabul" he said.
In the interview, Mir also said the Saudi terror leader had changed his mind at the last minute on the idea of making one of the hijacked 11 September planes crash into a US nuclear plant.
The Pakistani journalist, also said he has precise and up-to-date information on how the Saudi terror leader lives.
"Last September I met the bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden, Abu Hamza, who told me that he had married an Afghan woman with whom he had three children. On the same day he told me of the death of one of Bin Laden's wives during childbirth in a mountainous zone where there were no doctors. It seemed that her death was not a major problem for bin Laden as death in childbirth is quite frequent among Afghan women," Mir recounted.
It is unclear to which of bin Laden's wives his bodyguard was referring, even if it seems probably it was the daughter of Abu Hafs al-Masri.
Abu Hamza al-Jazeeri - an Algerian who in 2003 was in Iraq but later returned to Afghanistan - also indicated that combatants go from Afghanistan to Iraq and back through Iran.
Regarding the life of bin Laden and his followers in Pakistan, bin Laden's body guard recounted that the Arab fighters bought food from the local Pashtun tribes who sell them bread, milk and meat.
"Abu Hamza told me that Osama bin Laden keeps in touch with his fighters and follows news via satellite television and the statements which appear on the Internet.
He is well and spends his days praying and reading the Coran inside a cave," he continued, adding that he had left the Afghan mountain stronghold of Tora Bora at the end of December 2001.
Asked how he could be informed about what is going on in the world from inside a cave, the journalist replied: "Where he is located, he can listen to the radio, and al-Qaeda has four bases in the main cities of Pakistan form where he can see the satellite channels and he can use Internet."
"Bin Laden's envoys regularly prepare reports with the main news developments and send them to his hideout," he added.
"After leaving Tora Bora he spent much time in the mountainous region dividing Pakistan and Afghanistan, then he was in Khost, Konar, Baktia, Baktika and in Waziristan. That border area is safe, while that with Iran is not," he said, noting that one of bin Laden's sons, Saad, lives in Iran.
Regarding bin Laden's relationship with Jordanian militant and leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Hamid Mir said the two men are in regular contact.
"They communicate through CDs - inside which are compressed files in which there are the plans of operations to be carried out. They are carried to and fro by couriers passing rough Iran," he concluded.
In the interview, Mir also said the Saudi terror leader had changed his mind at the last minute on the idea of making one of the hijacked 11 September planes crash into a US nuclear plant.
The Pakistani journalist, also said he has precise and up-to-date information on how the Saudi terror leader lives.
"Last September I met the bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden, Abu Hamza, who told me that he had married an Afghan woman with whom he had three children. On the same day he told me of the death of one of Bin Laden's wives during childbirth in a mountainous zone where there were no doctors. It seemed that her death was not a major problem for bin Laden as death in childbirth is quite frequent among Afghan women," Mir recounted.
It is unclear to which of bin Laden's wives his bodyguard was referring, even if it seems probably it was the daughter of Abu Hafs al-Masri.
Abu Hamza al-Jazeeri - an Algerian who in 2003 was in Iraq but later returned to Afghanistan - also indicated that combatants go from Afghanistan to Iraq and back through Iran.
Regarding the life of bin Laden and his followers in Pakistan, bin Laden's body guard recounted that the Arab fighters bought food from the local Pashtun tribes who sell them bread, milk and meat.
"Abu Hamza told me that Osama bin Laden keeps in touch with his fighters and follows news via satellite television and the statements which appear on the Internet.
He is well and spends his days praying and reading the Coran inside a cave," he continued, adding that he had left the Afghan mountain stronghold of Tora Bora at the end of December 2001.
Asked how he could be informed about what is going on in the world from inside a cave, the journalist replied: "Where he is located, he can listen to the radio, and al-Qaeda has four bases in the main cities of Pakistan form where he can see the satellite channels and he can use Internet."
"Bin Laden's envoys regularly prepare reports with the main news developments and send them to his hideout," he added.
"After leaving Tora Bora he spent much time in the mountainous region dividing Pakistan and Afghanistan, then he was in Khost, Konar, Baktia, Baktika and in Waziristan. That border area is safe, while that with Iran is not," he said, noting that one of bin Laden's sons, Saad, lives in Iran.
Regarding bin Laden's relationship with Jordanian militant and leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Hamid Mir said the two men are in regular contact.
"They communicate through CDs - inside which are compressed files in which there are the plans of operations to be carried out. They are carried to and fro by couriers passing rough Iran," he concluded.
posted by Marko at 5/02/2006 07:00:00 AM
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