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American Troops Face Suicide Attack Threats
Friday, September 27, 2002
By Kathy Gannon
Associated Press Writer

Safi said the alliance's fighters are from the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami. "Al-Qaida is not helping with men, but with money," he said. Iran also "is helping with money and weapons. Iran needs Hekmatyar, because Iran is an enemy of the United States, and Hekmatyar is too."

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- AP
Taliban fugitives and Afghan fighters loyal to a former foe have allied and are getting arms and money from al-Qaida and Iran for planned suicide attacks on American troops in Afghanistan, one of their leaders says.

The new alliance is said to be based in eastern Afghanistan and involves men led by several former high Taliban officials and fighters of Hezb-e-Islami, a group headed by former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Hekmatyar's force was one of the U.S.-aided guerrilla armies that fought the Soviets in the 1980s. He fled to Iran in 1996 after his group was defeated by the Taliban, but he has recently been seeking to incite a "holy war" against American forces in Afghanistan.

The new alliance is known as Lashkar Fedayan-e-Islami, or the Islamic Martyrs Brigade, a Hekmatyar military commander, Salauddin Safi, told the Associated Press at a secret meeting Wednesday in this frontier city.
(More: Missoulian.com News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan