U.S. Asks Bin Laden Family For DNA Samples

ByABC News
February 28, 2002, 4:19 AM

Feb. 27 -- The United States has asked the family of Osama bin Laden for DNA samples, to rule out the possibility that he may have been among the casualties of a U.S. missile strike earlier this month.

The request comes as the U.S. military said it would help the former Soviet republic of Georgia train its troops to battle terrorists.

The search for bin Laden's DNA comes after a Feb. 4 U.S. attack. A remote-controlled U.S. Predator spy plane fired two Hellfire missiles at a group of suspected al Qaeda leaders in eastern Afghanistan. Because one of the men was unusually tall, there was also some speculation that bin Laden himself may have been killed.

U.S. forces searching the scene a week later found "biological material," which might possibly include human remains. They are now hoping to compare the DNA from the material with a sample (saliva or blood) from bin Laden's mother because that would provide the closest match.

He is the only child of that mother but he has close to 50 half siblings through his father. If investigators got several of his siblings to provide DNA samples, officials believe they could have a conclusive result.

Bin Laden's father is dead, but his mother is still living in Saudi Arabia and there is a possibility she will cooperate.

"It was always believed that if we needed to get DNA we could probably do so, so we didn't press the issue. But since the Hellfire missile strike we figured that it was time we got a sample, even though we do not believe it was bin Laden we hit," a senior U.S. official told ABCNEWS.

Nevertheless, U.S. officials feel confidant that bin Laden is still alive the latest intelligence indicating he remains in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. The main reason that officials believe he is still alive: There is no message traffic indicating he is dead.

From the Hindu Kush to the Black Sea

On the other side of Central Asia, the war on terror appeared to be opening up a new front with the U.S. offer to help Georgia fight terrorists who are believed to have moved into the Caucasus region.

Senior military officials said the United States will begin to "train and equip" missions in Georgia "sooner rather than later" following the recommendations of an assessment team that returned from the region about a month ago.