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CIA kills top Al Qaeda leader; US admits mistakenly jailing Afghans
( 2002-02-07 12:00 ) (7 )

The CIA attacked a senior al Qaeda leader in eastern Afghanistan from the air earlier this week, and believes it killed him, sources said.

The leader, who has not yet been identified, had been under surveillance for several days, and was killed by a rocket fired from an unmanned predator spy drone, sources said.

Manned warplanes were not used because none were in the area. CIA Director George Tenet, who made his first appearance since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Wednesday, is believed to have revealed the attack in a closed session of Congress Wednesday afternoon.

Tenet testified about the continuing threat presented by al Qaeda.

Earlier Wednesday, the United States released all 27 prisoners seized nearly two weeks ago during a raid on a suspected al Qaeda facility in southern Afghanistan.

US military officials Wednesday said none of the men captured during the Jan. 23 commando attack at Hazar Qadam, north of Kandahar, were Taliban or al Qaeda members as originally suspected.

The release came as a US investigation into the raid was underway to determine if the 15 people killed in the raid were erroneously slain.

A Central Command official Wednesday said there had been no official expression of regret or apology so far and that none were expressed when the prisoners were handed over to Afghan authorities.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday the United States would issue a formal apology if investigators concluded the raid was a mistake.

Central Command officials said they believed at least seven of the 27 detainees were what they call "criminals" and they did not expect the Afghan interim government to release them.

On Tuesday, a CIA official acknowledged that thousands of dollars of compensatory payments had been given to the families of people killed in the raid. The payment is widely believed to be short-term balm to help the interim Afghan government calm angry locals.

Meanwhile, the transport of Afghan detainees from the US installation at Kandahar airport resumed Wednesday, with a C-17 departing in darkness. It could not be determined how many detainees were on board, or where they were headed. Previous such flights have arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where a detention facility has been built at the US Navy's base.

It was the first such flight in three weeks.

Herat Greets Karzai

Almost two months after he came into power as the interim leader of the war-ravaged country, Hamid Karzai faces daunting challenges to his attempts to bring peace and security to the country.

More than 50 people were killed in skirmishes between rival warlords in Gardez in eastern Afghanistan last week and the situation around the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif continues to be tense following recent clashed between competing commanders.

A security force controlled by the Afghan government Wednesday ordered militia leaders to withdraw their troops from the city within two days. And in Gardez, government negotiators resumed talks with local leaders to arrive at a solution to the power struggle for the eastern Paktia province.

The top UN envoy to Afghanistan, and even feuding warlords, are so worried about the future of peace in Afghanistan that they have asked for an expansion of foreign forces, now restricted to the capital Kabul, to other parts of Afghanistan.

Wednesday, Lakhdar Brahimi asked the 15-member Security Council to consider urgently expanding the peacekeeping presence. Council members were sympathetic, Brahimi said, but are daunted by the problem of finding troops. The force is not a United Nations operation, but must be paid fror by troop contributors, and the United States has ruled itself out.

A British-led force, known as the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, is gaining in numbers in Kabul, and expected to reach 5,000 soldiers to last for six months.

The strains on Karzai were not apparent in the western Afghan city of Herat Wednesday, as Heratis lined the streets of the strategic city to welcome the new Afghan leader.

It was Karzai's first visit to a major Afghan city outside Kabul since he assumed power in December.

Despite the warm reception, Karzai faces numerous challenges in the western Afghan province, where neighboring Iran has traditionally exerted a strong influence.

Herat Governor Ismail Khan is widely believed to enjoy Iranian support and has in the past lived in Iran following a dramatic escape from a Taliban jail when the hard-line regime controlled the city.

Amid US accusations that Tehran was granting refuge to fleeing al Qaeda members, Karzai met with Khan in Herat Wednesday.

Both Tehran and Khan have dismissed charges that fleeing al Qaeda members were being granted refuge in Iran.

Karzai: 2 US Military Blunders

The pressures on Karzai have been exacerbated by what the interim leader has called US military mistakes. In an interview with The Washington Post published Wednesday, Karzai said US troops had mistakenly attacked anti-Taliban figures on two occasions - in the raid at Hazar Qadam, which killed 15 people, and in a strike on a convoy near the eastern Afghan city of Khost.

According to local sources, more than 60 people were killed when a convoy of anti-Taliban leaders were struck by US airstrikes while on their way to Karzai's inauguration in Kabul in December.

But speaking to the Post, Karzai said US forces were purposefully misled by rivals into attacking the convoy near Khost. He also said US offiials have acknowledged their mistakes to Afghan officials, sometimes with financial compensation.

3 Die in Avalanche

But even as Karzai struggles to maintain stability in the country, the humanitarian situation in the war-and-drought-stricken country continues to alarm the international community.

In northern Afghanistan Wednesday, three people were killed when an avalanche trapped 20 vehicles carrying aid outside the Salang Tunnel, a major artery connecting northern and southern Afghanistan, a UN spokesman said.

Rescue teams at the site were working to clear the tunnel, which was built by Soviet troops during the 1979-1989 occupation and is the world's highest altitude tunnel.

The accident came amid warnings from the international community that tens of thousands of Afghans in remote parts of western Afghanistan face starvation as winter snows have blocked access to some pockets of the country.

Saudi Arabia Makes First Acknowledgment

In other developments:

** In its first official acknowledgment that 15 of 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks were Saudi citizens, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef told The Associated Press that Saudi leaders were shocked by the news. But he maintained that Saudi authorities bore no responsibility for their actions. Nayef said the names of the hijackers were confirmed and their families notified.

** US intelligence sources said that of the 25 most senior people in Osama bin Laden's network, US intelligence officials believe the United States has killed five and captured one - but still can only guess the whereabouts of bin Laden himself.