ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed in a television interview broadcast Thursday that his fighters helped Osama bin Laden escape from the mountains of Toro Bora five years ago.
Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and leader of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group, told Pakistan's private Geo TV network that when the United States began its assault on the Tora Bora mountains in late 2001, some of his fighters moved bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and other associates to "a safe place" where he met them later.
He did not say where they found the shelter.
Hekmatyar was speaking in Pashto language. Only fragments from Hekmatyar's comments were audible under a voiceover translated into Urdu, Pakistan's main language. Geo did not disclose when or where the interview was made.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/11/hekmatyar.claim.ap/index.html
Rebel: 'We aided bin Laden escape'
