"Bin Laden under house arrest"

AFP via News24 (South Africa) ^ | September 13, 2001

[Clive]

Dubai - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia have placed alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden under house arrest in the wake of the suicide attacks on the United States, an Arabic online newspaper reported.

Quoting "fundamentalist Arab sources", Ilaf said the "Taliban have arrested Osama bin Laden before placing him under surveillance with several of his assistants," including the head of the Egyptian branch of Al-Jihad Ayman Al-Zawahri and bin Laden's military commander, Muhammad Atef Al-Makni.

"A number of Afghan fighters are under house arrest along with bin Laden," said the report late on Wednesday.

But a diplomat at the Taliban's embassy in Abu Dhabi said he could not confirm the report.

"All we know is that he bin Laden is somewhere in Afghanistan, but we are not aware if he is under house arrest," the diplomat said.

Bin Laden and commander Atef have been indicted for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Bin Laden has emerged as the prime suspects in Tuesday's kamikaze hijacked passenger jet strikes on New York and Washington. - AFP

[Clive]

Caveat:

The source is a South African television station, quoting Agence France Presse, which in turn quotes an Arabic online newspaper, without collateral confirmation.

I have confidence in News24 and in AFP as their reports have always checked ou, but not in an un-named online newspaper whose url is not known to me.

Take the story as you find it.

[THX 1138]

Its ass-covering time for the Taliban.

[newsperson999]

WANTED CLICK

[Clive]

I see someone else has already posted the story from a different source.

Please reply to the earliest thread.

[Clive]

I see someone else has already posted the story from a different source.

Please reply to the earliest thread.

[off-roader]

No... It's "duck and cover" time..

[Alpenkatze]

Who knows... Maybe Afghanistan doesn't feel Bin Laden is worth an Iraqi style bombing by NATO. If I were the leader of any Arab nation I'd certainly distance myself. Good job buddy but you gotta go...

[truth_eagle]

It looks like the Taliban leadership is not insane!

Hand over Bin-Laden or face utter annihilation.

[Tennessean4Bush]

On September 13, 1998, it was also reported that Bin Laden was under house arrest. It was later proved to be a ruse.

[R. Scott]

If true, and the Taliban really wants to save their chunk of mountainous rock from retaliation, they should immediately inform us of the exact location of the buildings.
Then we should bomb every government building in Afghanistan.

[THX 1138]

No... It's "duck and cover" time..

Hey, I didn't say it was going to work for them.

LOL

[jlogajan]

It smells like panic.

[FITZ]

I heard (at work) someone say that Powell gave Afghanastan and ultimatum----that they could turn over Ben Laden or we would begin bombing to get him ourselves. That would make them choose between their own civilians and Ben Laden.

[The Shootist]

Trial Balloon?

[RoseofTexas]

GOOD! Hold him there for us, we'll be sending some FIREWORKS to celebrate. This is such BS!

[Intolerant in NJ]

"Bin Laden under house arrest"...didn't take long once we started talking about going after the countries which protected him as well as bin Laden himself...

[mlibertarianj]

If they truly want to save their backsides, give us Bin Laden and while they are at it, the Taliban turkeys should also release those aid workers too! They should also send a check to the Buddhists for blowing up those statues of Buddha!

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

give bin laden the torture he deserves

[WyldKard]

Hmmm...it looks like someone said to the Taliban "We are putting all our ducks in a row here. We're VERY QUICKLY putting pieces together, and getting commitments from people across the world. Just think about that, won't you? We WILL be speaking again..."

It's obvious that Bush and Co. are digging in for the long haul if nessasary. They are building an airtight case to show the world, and are also prepping for some serious ass fighting if it comes to it. The Taliban knows that they've backed the wrong horse....at least I'd hope so...

Thank god we have an administration that KNOWS how to handle a situation like this...god...imagine if it had been Gore in charge

[dougherty]

These people are very afraid! They damn well should be. Even if they do turn this scum over to us, they should still be bombed for protecting this guy all these years. Violence is the ONLY language these animals understand.