WASHINGTON/KABUL, January 17 — The Briton who tried to blow up an aircraft with explosives in his shoes was indicted yesterday on nine counts, including murder, while the US campaign in Afghanistan got a boost from an unexpected quarter — an Al-Qaeda finance official who volunteered information.
The indictment brought by a federal grand jury in Massachusetts said that Richard Reid, a British citizen, had received training from Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It charged him on nine counts: attempted murder, attempted homicide, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, placing an explosive device on an aircraft, two counts of interference with flight crew members and flight attendants, attempted destruction of aircraft, using a destructive device during and in relation to a violent crime and attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle.
Reid was aboard American Airlines Flight 63 bound from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22 when he was overpowered. The plane then landed in Boston, where he was taken into custody and initially charged in a criminal complaint.
Investigators have been trying to determine whether Reid was trying to follow-up on the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed more than 3,000 people.
In Afghanistan, US officials said a finance official for Al-Qaida underwent questioning yesterday, a day after he turned up voluntarily at the US base in Kandahar. “Military intelligence is jumping with joy over the opportunity to question him,” Marine spokesman 1st Lt. James Jarvis said. He declined to give details about the man, but other US officials said on condition of anonymity that he was an Al-Qaida money man. Jarvis said the man came Tuesday to the Kandahar airport. The man remained on the base yesterday but was not being held as a detainee.
Kabul’s airport, heavily damaged during the US campaign, was officially reopened yesterday after being cleared of bombs and mines. “This is the start of a new era for Afghan aviation,” the interim Air Transport and Tourism Minister, Abdul Rahman said as the national carrier Ariana announced plans to resume international services next week with the lifting of year-long UN air sanctions.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s interim defense minister dismissed US warnings to Iran against interfering in Kabul’s affairs, saying Tehran had made no attempt to do so. U.S. President George W. Bush warned Iran last week not to destabilize the new government in Kabul or harbor fleeing Al-Qaeda members.
