Egyptian charged in connection with Afghan leader’s death

Associated Press

LONDON — An Egyptian activist was charged Tuesday with providing journalist credentials to suicide bombers who killed the military chief of Afghanistan’s opposition alliance.

Yasser el-Sirri, 39, was the first person charged in connection with the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massood, the legendary battle leader of the Northern Alliance.

Two men posing as journalists — allegedly using a letter of accreditation el-Sirri gave them — detonated a bomb hidden in their camera while they interviewed Massood in his northern Afghanistan headquarters on Sept. 9. Massood was fatally wounded and both of the bombers were killed.

Massood’s death deprived the Afghan opposition of its best strategist and one of the movement’s few figures capable of uniting broad sectors of Afghan society.

In an interview with an Arabic newspaper before his arrest, el-Sirri said he wrote the letter but thought the men were legitimate journalists.

At a hearing in Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, el-Sirri listened closely to an interpreter as the charges against him were read, speaking only to confirm his name.

District Judge Timothy Workman rejected a bail request and scheduled another hearing for Nov. 7.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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