Insurgent leader claims his fighters helped bin Laden escape

Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed in a rare interview with Pakistani television broadcast today that his fighters helped al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden escape intense US bombardment and a hunt in eastern Afghan mountains five years ago.

Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and leader of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group, told the 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.