Afghan Insurgents Helped bin Laden Escape US Military, page 1

An Afghan insurgent leader revealed he and other fighters aided Osama bid Laden five years ago in his escape from the United States forces. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, former prime of Afghanistan, said in an interview Thursday that he helped both Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri escape. It was not disclosed where they were taken to at that time. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are still believed to be in the region around the Afghan-Pakistani border.

news.yahoo.com
Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and leader of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group, told Pakistan's private Geo TV network that when the United States began its assault on the rugged Afghan mountains five years ago, some of his fighters moved bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and other associates to "a safe place" where he met them later.

He did not say where they found the shelter. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are believed to be still hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border after the heavy U.S. pounding failed to kill them or lead to their capture.

Hekmatyar was a leader of the mujahedeen that fought the Soviet occupation of the 1980s and was briefly Afghan prime minister during the civil war of the early 1990s that cost tens of thousands of lives.

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It is interesting to find after five years that the details of the location of the FBI's most wanted man are still unknown. This individual that claims to have helped bin Laden was a once high-ranking official in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar is now a leader of insurgents in Afghanistan. He was also a leader of a militant group that fought during Soviet occupation. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also said in the television interview that his militia holds no ties to bin Laden or al-Qaida.

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[edit on 11-1-2007 by EricFM]

[edit on 12-1-2007 by EricFM]