Vatican confirms al-Qaida man involved in Pope plot

THE Vatican has confirmed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the second in command to Osama bin Laden, arrested in Pakistan last week, was the leader of a group of Islamic militants which plotted to kill Pope John Paul II on a visit to the Philippines.

The visit of the 82-year-old Pontiff in January 1995 went ahead with particularly tight security throughout.

Another member of the Islamic cell was Ramzi Yousef who is serving a life term in an American prison for his part in masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, which killed six people and wounded 1,000.

Mohammed has also been identified as the architect of another plot which was designed to crash an aircraft packed with explosives into the CIA headquarters in Virginia.

Dubbed the Bojinka plot, it also called for the blowing up of US passenger planes flying across the Pacific.

Washington branded Mohammed as one of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's most senior lieutenants and hold him responsible for the destruction of the September 11 attacks on New York's twin towers in 2001 which killed over 3,000 people.

Officials in the Vatican have also confirmed that Pope John Paul II has become leader of the peace movement against war in Iraq.

Several hundred emails have arrived so far this month offering support for the anti-war statements of the holy father.

Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that in the three days from March 1, 1,500 emails were sent to the Pope.

He said that the surprising fact about the cyber-correspondence is that the Pope does not have an email address.