Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a spokesman for Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network, has been wounded, possibly fatally, during recent fighting in Afghanistan, the Al Qabas newspaper reported Monday.
Abu Ghaith, who has been stripped of his Kuwaiti nationality, was "seriously wounded" in the eastern Afghan city of Kandahar, possibly even succumbing to his injuries, according to Pakistani security sources citing Kuwaiti fighters who have since fled by sea to the UAE, the paper said.
Kuwaiti authorities were coordinating with their Emirati counterparts to track down the Kuwaiti fighters who had reportedly touched down in the UAE, Al Qabas quoted unidentified security sources as saying.
Kuwait has stressed that nationals who have been fighting in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban were free to come home, but would be questioned and were liable to be punished accordingly.
Al Watan newspaper said Monday that families of Kuwaiti fighters were seeking their safe return, despite their fear of punishment by Kuwaiti authorities.
An undisclosed number of Kuwaiti fighters in Afghanistan, and others already in Pakistan, have been in telephone contact with their families in Kuwait, the paper said.
The fighters expressed concern about being captured by Northern Alliance forces and were seeking passage to a country that could guarantee their safety, the daily said.
Hundreds of Afghan Arabs and other foreigners have reportedly surrendered to the Northern Alliance as the Taliban has lost its hold over key areas around Afghanistan.
Afghan Arabs are Arabs, such as prime terror suspect Osama bin Laden, who originally went to Afghanistan to help fight the Soviet invasion of the country in the 1980s.
There were thought to be many among the hundreds killed in last week's prison uprising near Mazar-i-Sharif when US warplanes pounded the compound -- KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
