U.S. Officials: Afghan Massood Believed Dead

Sept. 10, 2001 -- The main opposition leader standing in the way of the Taliban's total control of Afghanistan is believed dead, U.S. intelligence sources tell ABCNEWS.

Ahmad Shah Massood died in a Russian-made helicopter en route to the hospital after a suicide bomber set himself off in his office on Sunday, the sources say.

The assassins are said to have gained access to Massood by posing as television reporters, and their bomb was either hidden in a video camera or wrapped around the cameraman's body.

However, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told reporters today he was still unable to confirm if the guerrilla leader had been killed, and Massood's spokesmen said today the 48-year-old commander was merely being treated for minor wounds.

"He is in treatment in the hospital," said Ahmad Shayeq, an opposition spokesman in London. "His condition is improving."

Shaqyeq said Massood suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg and hand.

Mehrabodin Masstan, Massood's spokesman in France, told Reuters news service that sources in Afghanistan told him the commander would reappear on Tuesday and give an interview.

"However, the doctor has told him not to move today," Masstan said.

The Taliban has denied any involvement in the assassination attempt.

Beware Journalists

The attack is believed to have taken place while Massood was giving interviews to two Arab journalists in his office in the far north of Afghanistan.

The cameraman carried the bomb, while his partner reportedly got cold feet seconds before the bomb blast and tried to bolt. He was shot and killed.

The cameraman died in the blast. A close aide to Massood was also said to have been killed.

The nationalities and affiliation of the attackers remain unclear.

Ahmed Wali, Massood's brother and the opposition's ambassador in Britain, told The Associated Press the pair was traveling on Belgian passports, with multiple-entry Pakistani visas issued by the Pakistani Embassy in London.

Pakistan is one of the Taliban's strongest supporters. Most of Massood's help came from Russia, India and Iran — all of whom regard the hard-line Muslim militia and what it preaches as a threat to their interests.

Massood was also reported to have a covert relationship with the United States in which he would sell intelligence about the Taliban and suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Ladin.

He is said to have allowed teams of secret American agents to pass through his territory into other parts of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban, so the agents could spy on bin Laden.

A Military Mind

Massood, widely credited as the most successful of the Afghan guerillas who fought against Soviet occupation in the 1980s, has been a key figure in the fight against the Taliban.

Along with ethnic Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum and the governor of Herat, Ismail Khan, Massood was part of an anti-Taliban alliance that controls the 5 percent of Afghanistan not under of Taliban rule.

The alliance is officially led by President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was driven from power in 1996 but is still recognized by the United Nations as Afghanistan's leader.

It is mostly supported by the country's minorities, while the Taliban is largely made up of the country's majority Pashtun ethnic group.

Reports of Massood's death are expected to bring about a power struggle within the fractious anti-Taliban alliance, much as what happened when they ruled most of the country between 1992 and 1994.

History is expected to repeat itself, with the Taliban taking advantage of the disarray in a bid to seize complete control, much as they did in the early summer of 2000.

ABCNEWS' John McWethy in Washington and Andrew Chang in New York contributed to this report.