A senior member of the al-Qaeda network - Fazul Abdullah Mohammed - is in hiding on the island of Madagascar off the coast of southern Africa, reports said Monday. Midi Madagasikara, the island's largest newspaper, quoted military "and other" sources as saying that Mohammed was directing al-Qaeda's activities in East Africa from a hideout in the harbour city of Majunga in the north-west of the country. Mohammed was reported to have come to Madagascar, where his The government in Antananarivo did not confirm or deny the report. Mohammed is on the US list of 35 most-wanted terrorists over suspicion of his involvement in the bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, which killed 228 people and injured over 5,000. The US government is offering 5 million dollars for information leading to his capture.
A close relative of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, was shot dead in Madagascar in January according to unconfirmed reports.