By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writer
Posted September 11 2001, 5:17 AM EDT
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban say they had no hand in a suicide bomb that targeted Ahmed Shah Massood, the legendary leader of the country's opposition to hard-line Islamic rule.
Conflicting reports persisted Tuesday over whether Massood survived the bombing Sunday that killed his aide, Asam Suhail, as well as the bombers, two men posing as television journalists. The Russian news agency Itar/Tass reported that Massood had also died.
An opposition spokesman and Massood's brother in London have said he was gravely injured in the attack, but was not killed.
Massood, 48, has no obvious successor. His loss would devastate the opposition, already a fractured collection of groups who fought each other when they ruled much of Afghanistan for four years until the Taliban took control in September 1996. Their deposed government still holds Afghanistan's seat in the United Nations and operates embassies in several capitals.
The opposition blamed the bombing on the Taliban and neighboring Pakistan, which they say supports the Islamic militia with money and military training.
Massood's spokesman in Paris, Mehrabodin Masstan, suggested the bombing could be the work of Osama bin Laden, who is living in Afghanistan and is accused by Washington of blowing up two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.
The Taliban denied any role in the attack.
"He was our direct enemy in the bunkers on the frontline, because we believe he is an enemy of the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan, but we had no hand in this terrorist attack," Abdul Rehman Ottaq, a senior foreign ministry official, said Tuesday.
The attack occurred at Khodja Bahauddin in northern Afghanistan, according to an opposition spokesman, Abdullah, who uses only one name. The explosives were concealed in a television camera belonging to the bombers, believed to Arabic-speaking North Africans traveling with Belgian passports. They claimed to represent a news organization identified as Arab News International, Abdullah said.
Three people were wounded -- Abdullah's young nephew and the opposition's ambassador in India, in addition to Massood.
"Massood received the most serious injuries," Abdullah said.
Massood's brother, Ahmed Wali, the opposition's representative in London, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday that Massood's condition was critical. He said Massood had undergone surgery for shrapnel wounds to the head and had not regained consciousness since the operation.
It was unclear where Massood underwent surgery. Some reports said it was in a Russian field hospital on the Tajik border with Afghanistan. Others said Massood was too badly wounded to be moved from northern Afghanistan.
Wali left Britain late on Monday for Tajikistan.
Massood's northern alliance, called the United Front, is made up of smaller groups largely representing the country's minority ethnic and religious groups.
Former enemies who fought bitterly against each other when they ruled Kabul between 1992 and 1996, they rallied together under Massood's charismatic leadership to try to stop the Taliban from gaining full control of the country.
Successive battlefield victories by the Taliban forced Massood's alliance out of key strongholds and restricted them to pockets in the Panjshir Valley and a handful of provinces in northern Afghanistan. Massood is often referred to as the "Lion of the Panjshir."
In the beleaguered capital of Kabul there was sadness at the news of the suicide bombing and the prospect of Massood's death.
"Even if you don't support him, he was someone who could maybe force the Taliban to soften their attitude toward the people," said Mohammed Idrees, who runs a small ramshackle shop tucked away in a narrow dusty lane.
Sky News
Sept. 11, 2001
Iraq has shot down a second unmanned American spy plane in the southern no-fly zone.
The Pentagon confirmed it had lost contact with the reconnaissance Predator drone which had been on a mission in southern Iraq.
"We have lost control of the aircraft. We no longer have a data link," said Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman.
Spy data
Iraq claimed it had shot the aircraft down hours before the Pentagon revealed it had lost touch with the drone during one of its patrols.
Last month another Predator was shot down by Iraq's air defence crews.
The aircraft fly slowly over the zone they are observing and beam live information back to mission control centres.
British and American warplanes have stepped up attacks in the no-fly zones which were set up after the Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and marsh Arabs in the south.
Dangerous mission
So far no manned aircraft have been shot down but the US has warned the chances of this happening have increased as Saddam rebuilds his air defence systems.
Last Modified: 13:44 UK, Tuesday September 11, 2001
http://www.sky.com/skynews/storytemplate/storytoppic/0,,30200-1029100,00.html