An aide to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was killed in Afghanistan when a grenade exploded in his hands, and did not die in a U.S. bomb attack, Afghan Islamic Press said. Abu Baseer al-Masri, an Egyptian, died in a Jalalabad hospital on October 13, two days after a grenade he was holding exploded, causing extensive arm and chest injuries, AIP said. Earlier reports had said the aide to bin Laden was killed by U.S. bombing around Jalalabad. The veteran fighter was a group commander for bin Laden's al Qaeda (the Base) network when he died in Jalalabad, one of the main targets of 13 days of withering U.S. air strikes. The London-based Islamic Observation Centre said this week that two of Abu Baseer al-Masri's comrades, a Chinese Muslim and a Yemeni, were also injured, although no details were given. Abu Baseer al-Masri was reported to have been in Afghanistan for the last decade and was a member of the Egyptian radical group, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya.
Scratch that one off the list. |