Israel 'tried to kill bin Laden in 1996'

Israeli intelligence was close to assassinating al Qaida founder Osama bin Laden in 1996, five years before the deadly attacks in New York and Washington, an Israeli newspaper reported today.

The Yediot Ahronot daily said Israeli intelligence was helping investigate an attempted assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia and came across a group of radicals based in Sudan and led by bin Laden.