Al Qaeda Base in Kurdistan?

S U L A I M A N I A H, Northern Iraq, Dec. 31 -- An attempted assassination case in northern Iraq could be the key link in a chain of evidence that establishes the presence of al Qaeda there, officials with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan say.

The PUK, one of two controlling factions in northern Iraq, is preparing formal murder charges against Qais Ibrahim Khadir, 26, an Islamic extremist who freely admits he tried to kill the PUK's Barham Salih, the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, in April.

The region of northern Iraq known as Iraqi Kurdistan has been autonomous from Baghdad since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The PUK controls the eastern part of the autonomous zone and the western areas are controlled by its rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Khadir says he was one of the three men who engaged Salih's bodyguards in a running gunbattle on a narrow, upscale street near Salih's home in the town of Sulaimaniah.

Two of the assailants and five of Salih's bodyguards were killed, and another five bodyguards wounded. The mother of one of the slain bodyguards died of a heart attack when she received the news of her son's death.

The police say Khadir fired more than 140 bullets in the 10-minute firefight, was shot twice in the leg and briefly escaped. Khadir claims he personally killed three of the bodyguards.

Khadir told ABCNEWS that soon after his capture, enraged police officers drove him to the scene of the shootout, where he boasted that he would repeat the attack if given the chance.

An Alternative to Afghanistan

Salih, the prime minister, told ABCNEWS that Khadir is a member of the group Ansar al-Islam ("Supporters of Islam"), which he said "was set up in northern Iraq on Sept. 1, 2001, at the behest of Osama bin Laden."

Salih said the location was chosen "in anticipation of the fallout from Sept. 11." He said bin Laden's al Qaeda network was seeking an "alternative base" — "in case Afghanistan became a denied area to them."

Khadir has told ABCNEWS he was an Ansar sympathizer but that he had acted independently in the attempt to kill Salih. He said his ideas were nonetheless "very close" to bin Laden's and that they "came from the same source."

He said he chose the prime minister as a target because he was "an infidel" and because Salih, who represented the PUK in Washington in the 1990s, had been "watered like a plant by U.S. policies."