Posted on 09/10/2001 3:27:10 AM PDT by HAL9000
Anti-Taliban military leader reported victim of terrorists
MOSCOW (Itar-Tass) - Well-informed sources in Dushanbe said Vice-President of Afghanistan Ahmad Shah Masood, the chief military commander of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance died last night from wounds sustained in an assassination attempt in his headquarters in Northern Afghanistan. Reports denying the death have been released by some news agencies.
According to one of the versions, the attempt of Shakh Masood's life had been made by two men posing as Arab journalists. They had said they had arrived in Takhar province from a Taliban-controlled area.
An explosive device is believed to have been hidden on one of their videocameras.
The act of terror killed one of the men close to Akhmad Shah Masood and the two terrorists. The badly wounded Northern Alliance leader was taken to hospital and reportedly died on the way.
Some news reporters, however, said he was recovering from the wounds.
(c) 1996-2001 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.
Suicide bombers seriously injure opposition chief Ahmed Shah Massood
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massood was in serious condition in hospital in neighboring Tajikistan with head injuries, a day after a suicide bombing at his base in northern Afghanistan, his brother said Monday.
"The doctor says it will be 10 or 12 hours before we know. His condition is stabilizing, but he is still unconscious," said Ahmed Wali, Massood's brother and the opposition's ambassador in Britain.
Emergency surgery was performed on Massood in Tajikistan, but Wali refused to say which hospital.
"I spoke to his doctor one hour ago and he said that his condition is stabilizing," said Wali, who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone.
Wali said the veteran Afghan commander was flown immediately to Duchanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, following the explosion.
Massood met briefly with several of his commanders before being operated upon, he said.
"He gave instructions to his commanders before going into the operating theater," said Wali.
The most serious injuries were the head wounds caused by shrapnel. He also suffered wounds to the leg and hands.
"A lot of people are thinking of going to Tajikistan," to monitor Massood's condition, said Wali.
Since the suicide bombing Sunday afternoon there have been conflicting reports about the extent of Massood's injuries, with the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reporting his death.
According to Bismillah Khan, his spokesman in Afghanistan, Massood was being treated in a hospital in the northern Afghan province of Takhar following the "powerful blast." But Wali confirmed that Massood had been flown to Tajikistan.
Khan said the suicide bombers, believed to be Algerians, were posing as television journalists who were conducting an interview with Massood at an opposition base in Khodja Bahauddin in northern Afghanistan's Takhar province when the explosion occurred Sunday.
Both of the bombers were killed, along with one of Massood's spokesmen, Azim Suhail, according to Khan, who was reached by satellite telephone from Kabul, the Afghan capital, which is ruled by the Taliban. Khan accused the Taliban of sending the suicide bombers to the territory.
The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.
The two bombers were welcomed into opposition territory as journalists. They first conducted interviews in Shomali, barely 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Kabul, where they met opposition soldiers, said Khan. They were then taken to Khodja Bahauddin in Takhar province to meet Massood, according to Khan.
During the interview the explosion occurred. The device was apparently hidden in the camera. One of the bombers died immediately, and the other was shot by Massood's soldiers while trying to flee, said Khan.
Massood, 49, was the military head of the anti-Taliban alliance, whose political leader is ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Rabbani's deposed government still holds the seat in the United Nations General Assembly and operates embassies in several capitals of the world.
Its ambassador in India, Massood Khalili, a close aide and friend of Massood, was in Khodja Bahauddin attending the interview when the explosion occurred, said Khan. The extent of his injuries were not known.
Massood was Rabbani's defense chief during his rule of Kabul from 1992 until 1996, when the Taliban took power. The hard-line Islamic militia rules roughly 95 percent of Afghanistan, and Massood's alliance the remaining five percent, mostly in northern Afghanistan.
Massood has repeatedly accused the Taliban of sending foreign warriors to the front line, particularly guerrillas from Arab countries and from neighboring Pakistan. The Taliban have denied the accusation.
During the 10-year occupation of Afghanistan by the invading Soviet Union between 1979 and 1989, Massood was called the "Lion of the Panjshir" because of his military strength in the mighty Hindu Kush. His headquarters is in the Panjshir Valley.
He rode into Kabul on a tank in April 1992, when the Islamic insurgents threw out Afghanistan's pro-Moscow government led by Najibullah. But the guerrilla groups that forced the former Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan turned their weapons on each other.
During their four-year rule an estimated 50,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed in Kabul as rival Islamic groups, now together in Massood's northern alliance, fought each other.
The Taliban took control in September 1996, imposing their harsh brand of Islamic law.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press, All rights reserved
What a tyrant the Taliban is to the people of Afghanistan!!
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