Canada’s military is investigating a sketchy, but shocking report that the suicide bomber who killed a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan last week may have had his own connections to Canada, and al Qaeda.
| "Yes. We're shocked! Shocked, I tell you! Are there any more of those fried beaver tails?" |
On Wednesday, an Agence France-Presse report cited a Taliban spokesperson who said the bomber may have been a Canadian named Mohammed Abdullah, from a family with well-documented connections to al Qaeda. In Ottawa, Defence Minister David Pratt reacted to the allegation with caution. "You have to keep in mind the source here -- it is apparently a Taliban member and we take all of the information that they provide us with a grain of salt," he told reporters outside the Commons. "I can’t confirm anything at this point. We’re going to need a lot more evidence and a lot more details from the folks in Afghanistan."
| "I'm sure it couldn't be him. Perhaps some sort of mistake?" |
Pratt said DNA evidence may be used to identify the attacker who killed Cpl. Jamie Murphy of Conception Harbour, Nfld., and an Afghan bystander about a kilometre from the Canadian base in Kabul on Jan. 27. Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Saiful Adel reportedly told AFP that suicide bomber’s father was an al Qaeda member who fought against the Soviets and spent a lot of his life in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. The spokesperson alleges the bomber was Mohammad Abdullah, "the child of a Canadian citizen from Egypt named Abdul Rehman."
| Pretty generic names. Prob'ly got multiple entries in Jean Cretien's rolodex... |
"He was killed during a recent operation by the Pakistan army against the village of Angoor Adda, in the Pakistani tribal zone," Agence France-Presse said in a report from Kabul. But it was Ahmed Said Khadr, not Abdul Rehman, whose death last October was recently confirmed through DNA analysis. Of the five sons in the Khadr family, Abdullah is the only one who disappeared after September 11, 2001, and had never been tracked down.
| Is CTV not up on the concept of noms-de-guerre? How about false noses and moustaches? Wigs? Phony passports? Dead people's birth certificates? Have they ever been misled? Has anyone lied to them? Why are they in the news business? |
His younger brother, Abdurahman Khadr, talked to CTV News in a telephone interview from his Toronto home on Wednesday. "I don’t know what to think about it right now. I’m just trying to call them right now and find out what’s happening with my family," he said. Asked if he’s worried about his brother, Khadr said no. "I don’t know if I should be because I don’t think it was him."
| "And if it was, he's in a better place now, playing grab-ass with 72 virgins, like we're not allowed to do in this vale of tears..." |
On Wednesday, Pratt said officials are investigating the allegations. "We want to check things out," he said. "Obviously that investigation hasn’t been completed at this point."
| "I mean, does the family need bereavement counseling?" |
Canadian officials have confirmed that human remains were collected from the blast site in Kabul.
| "Mahmoud! Hand me that butter knife when y'r done!" |
Allied forces run DNA tests on dead enemy as a matter of routine. The FBI and U.S. military intelligence have extensive data banks of DNA on suspected terrorists. Afghan authorities and the International Security Assistance Force, of which Canada is part, have not yet revealed details of the suicide bomber except to say he had rigged his bomb with mortars and artillery as well as explosives.
| Guess that's one way to launch yourself into the Great Beyond... |
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