Osama associate killed in U.S. air-raid

CAIRO, OCT. 18. An Egyptian militant believed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. air-raid in Afghanistan, a London-based Islamic group said on Thursday. It was the first reported death of an established figure from the Saudi dissident's terror network in the nearly two-week bombardment.

The Egyptian, identified by his nom de guerre Abu Baseer Al- Masri, was killed by a U.S. bomb on Sunday near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, the Islamic Observation Center said in a newsletter e-mailed to AP.

The center said two of his comrades, a Chinese Muslim and a Yemeni, were injured. No details were given.

The center also sent in its e-mail newsletter a threat from Mohammed Atef, the No. 3 leader of Al-Qaeda and the military commander second only to Osama bin Laden.

Atef, an Egyptian, is on the FBI's list of the 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which says he has been indicted for his alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

``America will not realise its miscalculations until its soldiers are dragged in Afghanistan like they were in Somalia,'' Atef said.

In October 1993, militants reportedly trained by Osama bin Laden shot down two U.S. helicopters over Mogadishu, killing 18 soldiers trying to capture a Somali warlord. Jeering mobs then dragged the bodies of some of the soldiers through the streets.

The deaths was one of the factors that led the United States to withdraw from a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Atef, whose daughter is married to Osama bin Laden's son, is believed to be a former police officer. His association with Osama started in the early 1980s when he helped him recruit fighters for the Afghan war against the Soviet occupation forces. He is now principally responsible for training Al-Qaeda members in terrorism.

- AP

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Section  : International
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