Author: Mohamad Bazzi
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 10, 2001
URL: http://www.indian-express.com/ie20011010/op3.html
The men who assassinated Afghan
opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massood succeeded where the Soviets failed
at least 15 times. Posing as journalists, the two French-speaking North
African men journeyed across the globe to meet the ''Lion of Panjshir''
in his stronghold of northern Afghanistan. As soon as they were granted
an interview, one of the men detonated a powerful bomb, killing himself
instantly and fatally wounding Massood.
The assassination took place on
September 9, two days before the terrorist attacks on the United States,
fueling speculation that both events were organized by Osama bin Laden.
Like the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it appears
that the planning for Massood's assassination began years earlier. Investigators
are particularly troubled that the two assassins seem to have received
crucial help from a militant Islamic network in London, highlighting how
this city has become a key center of operations for militants who fled
crackdowns by their home governments in the Middle East.
At the center of the London connection
is Yasser al-Sirri, 39, an Egyptian militant who was sentenced to death
in absentia for his alleged involvement in a 1993 attempt by Islamic Jihad
to assassinate the Egyptian prime minister. Al-Sirri fled to London and
now runs the Islamic Observation Center, which he says is a human rights
group that disseminates information about Islamic causes worldwide. Al-Sirri
provided Massood's assassins with an introduction letter on his organisation's
stationery, which helped them obtain press accreditation in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
While he acknowledges providing
the letter, al-Sirri denies any involvement with Massood's assassination
or bin Laden. ''If I had known that these men intended to kill Massood,
would I have been stupid enough to give them a letter with my signature
on it? I would have covered my tracks,'' al-Sirri said in an interview
at his London office. ''I had nothing to do with this plot and I never
met these men in person. I only dealt with them over the phone.''
British investigators say the planning
for Massoud's assassination appears to have started with the theft of two
Belgian passports in Strasbourg and the Hague in 1999. The stolen passports
were presented at the Pakistani High Commission in London in July by Karim
Touzani, 34, and Kacem Bakkali, 26, to obtain journalist visas to visit
that country. Investigators say the men arrived in Pakistan's capital,
Islamabad, on July 25 and went to the embassy of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban
movement. There, they presented the letter of introduction from Al-Sirri,
which described the pair as journalists for ''Arabic News International.''
The letter was addressed to ''whom it may concern,'' and ended with the
flourish, ''May God reward you.'' With the necessary papers to work in
the Taliban-controlled part of Afghanistan, the men traveled to the Afghan
capital of Kabul, where investigators believe they collected explosives.
They then received permission to cross into Massood's stronghold in the
Panjshir valley, and they waited more than a week to meet the rebel leader.
Al-Sirri tells a different version
of events. He said one of the men, Touzani, called him for the first time
when the pair was already in Afghanistan in late July. Al-Sirri said Touzani
told him that he and Bakkali were making a documentary about Afghanistan,
and they could secure interviews with leading Taliban figures, including
the movement's reclusive leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Al-Sirri, who has
been involved in producing several books and videos about various militant
Islamic causes, said he jumped at the chance to gain access to Taliban
leaders. Al-Sirri said he only dealt with Touzani over the phone and he
faxed the letter to Kabul, where al-Sirri believed the pair would show
it to Talian officials. The Egyptian exile said he didn't hear from the
men again until mid-August, when Touzani called to say that they were going
into rebel-held territory to interview opposition leader Abdul Rasul Sayyaf,
who was allied with Massood. That was the last conversation al-Sirri had
with the assassins. Massood's military exploits became legendary during
the 10-year struggle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which
ended in 1989. When the Taliban swept into power in 1996, Massood became
military commander of the opposition Northern Alliance. Experts say the
careful planning behind Massood's assassination - and the use of suicide
bombers - points to bin Laden.
Massood's killing was widely seen
as an attempt by bin Laden to placate his Taliban hosts before the September
11 terrorists attacks and to remove a potentially powerful ally for the
United States in its retaliation.
Al-Sirri's office was raided by
investigators last month, and he was questioned several times by Scotland
Yard's anti-terrorism branch. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Al-Sirri arrived in London from Sudan - then bin Laden's base - in 1994
on a forged Yemeni passport. He was allowed into Britain and granted permanent
residence on grounds that he faced persecution in Egypt. Now, he's worried
that he could be sent back to his homeland, where he faces a death sentence
meted out by a military court.
(LA Times-Washington Post)