- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 230
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/04/taliban040204
Military investigating whether suicide bomber in Kabul was Canadian‘s son
Last Updated Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:57:52
OTTAWA - The minister of national defence says he is checking a report that it was the son of a Canadian citizen who carried out the suicide bombing that killed Cpl. Jamie Murphy in Afghanistan last week.
A Taliban official told Agence France Presse in Kabul that the attacker who killed the Canadian soldier was Mohammad Abdullah, the son of Canadian citizen and al-Qaeda member Abdul Rehman, who was killed in a shootout with the Pakistani military last year.
But it was Ahmed Said Khadr who was killed in the shootout and whose death last October has recently been confirmed.
AFP quotes a Taliban spokesperson as saying, "Mohammad Abdullah ... was the child of a Canadian citizen from Egypt named Abdul Rehman who was killed during a recent operation by the Pakistan army." It is believed the Taliban spokesperson is mistakenly naming Abdul Rehman instead of Ahmed Said Khadr.
Defence Minister David Pratt says he "can‘t confirm anything at this point," and he warns that information given by Taliban officials should "be taken with a grain of salt."
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Saiful Adel said the father of the suicide bomber was a long-time al-Qaeda member who fought against the Soviets and lived much of his life in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.
The Khadr family has been of interest to Canadian authorities for years. The father was detained as a terrorism suspect in Pakistan eight years ago. But former prime minister Jean Chrétien intervened in the case during a trade mission and Kadr was later released.
Another son, Abdurahman Khadr returned to Canada two months ago after being detained by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He says his older brother was not the suicide bomber. "There is a reference to our family, but I don‘t think it‘s my brother. I know my brother. I don‘t think he‘s capable of such a thing. Such a bad thing."
A sister, Zeynab, who now lives in Pakistan, says her brother doesn‘t believe in suicide bombings. "If the idea of suicide bombing or the topic ever came up, he‘d say that it was something that he would not like to do. If he had to face a problem, he‘d face it."
Another Khadr son is still in detention in Cuba, charged with killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. A fourth was wounded in the same shootout that killed his father last fall, and is still in hospital in Pakistan.
Cpl. Murphy, from Conception Harbour, Nfld., was killed on Jan. 27, just a few days before he was due to leave Afghanistan. When the jeep he was riding in slowed down, a suicide bomber jumped into the vehicle and detonated explosives. An Afghan civilian was also killed in the attack.
The Canadian military in Afghanistan is investigating the report. It is believed they have collected DNA evidence from the attack site.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Military investigating whether suicide bomber in Kabul was Canadian‘s son
Last Updated Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:57:52
OTTAWA - The minister of national defence says he is checking a report that it was the son of a Canadian citizen who carried out the suicide bombing that killed Cpl. Jamie Murphy in Afghanistan last week.
A Taliban official told Agence France Presse in Kabul that the attacker who killed the Canadian soldier was Mohammad Abdullah, the son of Canadian citizen and al-Qaeda member Abdul Rehman, who was killed in a shootout with the Pakistani military last year.
But it was Ahmed Said Khadr who was killed in the shootout and whose death last October has recently been confirmed.
AFP quotes a Taliban spokesperson as saying, "Mohammad Abdullah ... was the child of a Canadian citizen from Egypt named Abdul Rehman who was killed during a recent operation by the Pakistan army." It is believed the Taliban spokesperson is mistakenly naming Abdul Rehman instead of Ahmed Said Khadr.
Defence Minister David Pratt says he "can‘t confirm anything at this point," and he warns that information given by Taliban officials should "be taken with a grain of salt."
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Saiful Adel said the father of the suicide bomber was a long-time al-Qaeda member who fought against the Soviets and lived much of his life in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.
The Khadr family has been of interest to Canadian authorities for years. The father was detained as a terrorism suspect in Pakistan eight years ago. But former prime minister Jean Chrétien intervened in the case during a trade mission and Kadr was later released.
Another son, Abdurahman Khadr returned to Canada two months ago after being detained by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He says his older brother was not the suicide bomber. "There is a reference to our family, but I don‘t think it‘s my brother. I know my brother. I don‘t think he‘s capable of such a thing. Such a bad thing."
A sister, Zeynab, who now lives in Pakistan, says her brother doesn‘t believe in suicide bombings. "If the idea of suicide bombing or the topic ever came up, he‘d say that it was something that he would not like to do. If he had to face a problem, he‘d face it."
Another Khadr son is still in detention in Cuba, charged with killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. A fourth was wounded in the same shootout that killed his father last fall, and is still in hospital in Pakistan.
Cpl. Murphy, from Conception Harbour, Nfld., was killed on Jan. 27, just a few days before he was due to leave Afghanistan. When the jeep he was riding in slowed down, a suicide bomber jumped into the vehicle and detonated explosives. An Afghan civilian was also killed in the attack.
The Canadian military in Afghanistan is investigating the report. It is believed they have collected DNA evidence from the attack site.
Written by CBC News Online staff
