Blast survivor tells of Massoud assassination

THE sole survivor of the assassination of Gen Ahmad Shah Massoud, the commander of the anti-Taliban alliance in Afghanistan, gave the first eye-witness account of the killing yesterday.

Masood Khalili was sitting next to his leader when two men posing as journalists detonated their bombs two days before the terrorist attacks on America.

The suicide bombers, believed to be Moroccans, had spent 15 days in northern Afghanistan waiting for an interview before they were called into a room at the headquarters in the Panjshir Valley where Gen Massoud and Mr Khalili sat on a couch.

As one of the men set up a television camera on a tripod with the lens aimed at Gen Massoud's chest Mr Khalili, speaking in English, asked the "reporter" what questions he was going to ask.

The man, believed to be Karim Touzani, 34, scribbled notes with a blue pen before answering: "Why are you against Osama bin Laden?", "Why do you call him a killer?" and "If you take Kabul what will you do with him?

Before Mr Khalili could finish translating the first question, there were two blasts as the cameraman, thought to be Kacem Bakkali, 28, operated the camera bomb and his accomplice detonated explosives strapped around his waist.

Mr Khalili said: "I thought a rocket had exploded outside, but then I saw a dark blue, thick fire rushing toward us from the camera. That one minute was like one hour."

The "reporter" was blown to pieces. The "cameraman" ran from the room and jumped into the nearby 

River Oxus but was pulled out and killed by Gen Massoud's bodyguards.

Azim Suhail, an aide to Gen Massoud who arranged the interview, was also killed in the blast.