January 19, 2002	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 4, 1422

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PARIS, Jan 18: A French anti-terrorist investigator quizzed two suspects on Friday in relation to the assassination of Afghan anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Masood last September, judicial sources said.

Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who is investigating leads suggesting the preparations for the Sept 9 killing were conducted in Europe, placed one of the two men under official investigation on suspicion of “links with people involved in terrorist activities”, the sources said.

He was expected to do the same with the other man handed over to him by secret service agents who had detained them for questioning after their arrest in Paris on Monday.

The men arrested are Abderammane Ameuroude, an Algerian, and Mehrez Azouz, a Franco-Tunisian.

The arrests followed the detention of 12 Tunisians and Moroccans in France and Belgium in November on suspicion of organising the attack which killed Masood, the former head of the Northern Alliance which fought the Taliban.

Both men denied being part of a militant Islamic group but Mahrez Azouz has admitted to knowing Youssef el Aouni, one of the men held since the 12 arrests in November.

The Belgian government said in September the two Arab suicide bombers who killed Masood — apparently by gaining access to him by posing as TV reporters — had been in possession of stolen Belgian passports which provided the link to other suspects.

The judicial sources alleged said plane tickets had been found in a safe at the house of Mehrez Azouz — for trips between Iran and Italy and between London and Pakistan in 2000 and 2001.

They said they also found equipment for living in the mountains, including seven tents.

Masood’s assassins were suspected of being sent by Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.

AMERICAN RELEASED:In Washington, a State Department official told reporters on Friday that Clark Bowers, an American reportedly held hostage in Afghanistan, has apparently been released and gone to Pakistan.

“I have confirmation from the consul general that Bowers is in Karachi,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Citing privacy law requirements, she said she had no details of how Bowers got in touch with the US mission in Karachi or about his apparent release.

Rep Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, described Bowers on Tuesday as a political activist who tried to raise money for humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.

Soon after hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon near Washington on Sept. 11, Clark told Rohrabacher he planned to raise funds for humanitarian supplies for Afghans allied with the United States, the lawmaker said in a statement.—Reuters