Bin Laden held summit to plot biological attack, claims US magazine

OSAMA bin Laden held a terror summit in an Afghan mountain stronghold after the Iraq war to plot an attack using biological weapons that "will be unbelievable", it was reported yesterday.

Since that meeting, Bin Laden has continued to play leadership and planning roles with al-Qaeda from a secure hideout, Taleban sources told United States news magazine Newsweek.

They said he is in good health, enjoying time with his two wives, when it is thought safe, and living under heavy protection from his loyalists. He recently presided over the funeral of his daughter-in-law, who died in childbirth.

"I had enough riches to enjoy myself like an Arab sheikh," Bin Laden said at the funeral, according to his special bodyguard, Abu Hamza al- Jazeeri. "But I decided to fight against those infidel forces that want to sever us from our Islamic roots."

He blamed America for his daugher-in-law's death.

Newsweek reported that Bin Laden convened the summit with Middle East and Eastern European terrorist leaders in April, to discuss "serious projects".

"His priority is to use biological weapons," a high-ranking Taleban source told the magazine, saying the organisation already had the weapons and the only question was how to transport and launch them.

Bin Laden's three sons, who are always by his side, have sworn to kill him rather than let him fall into American hands.

According to the sources contacted by the magazine, the al-Qaeda leader has developed a communications system that helps him avoid US electronic surveillance.

Bin Laden communicates with friends using handwritten letters and computer disks, which are delivered by a chain of messengers. Each link in the chain knows only the next person to deliver their missive to and does not know the final destination.

There is strong suspicion that he is hiding in Kunar province in Afghanistan, a mountainous area with plenty of tree cover, making it difficult to spot him, or his followers' location, using satellites.

The new revelations about Bin Laden's lifestyle come amid indications of a resurgence in Taleban activities in south Afghanistan.

At least 11 Afghans, two of them guards for a US company, were killed on Sunday night by suspected Taleban guerrillas. The killings took place as US forces launched a fresh assault on hundreds of militants in the province of Zabul.

Afghan officials said seven policemen and two soldiers were killed by fighters from the ousted Islamic regime in three raids in Zabul and neighbouring Uruzgan province. Four of the seven policemen died when a checkpoint set up to guard reconstruction work on the Kabul-Kandahar highway came under fire, they said.

The attacks are a blow to the central government, which has made the road project a top priority.

They are also further evidence of increasing lawlessness and instability in the southern Zabul province, where up to 1,000 Taleban guerrillas have been fighting Afghan and US forces, backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

The US military, leading a 12,500-strong international force hunting remnants of the Taleban and the al-Qaeda network it sheltered, has announced a fresh operation against the largest concentration of Taleban fighters to emerge since the regime's ousting.

Dubbed "Operation Mountain Viper", it began on Saturday in the Dai Chopan district of Zabul, where US warplanes and helicopter gunships have been pounding militant positions. US soldiers and special forces, backed by aircraft, are to be deployed to help Afghan troops hunt the Taleban.

The Taleban has declared a "jihad", or holy war, against foreign forces, aid organisations and their allies.

The week-long battle in Zabul helped make August the bloodiest month since the Taleban was toppled.