11 April 2004	Sunday	20 Safar 1425

TORONTO, April 10: Two members of a Canadian family who once lived in a compound run by Osama bin Laden and are accused of links to Al Qaeda, arrived in Toronto on Friday from Pakistan.

Maha Elsamnah Khadr and her son Karim, 14, travelled to Canada on emergency passports so the boy, who was paralysed in a shootout with Pakistani troops, could have medical treatment.

Another son, Abdurahman Khadr, has admitted on Canadian television that the family knew Osama and that he and some of his siblings took part in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.

Mahah Khadr took refuge from a media throng at the airport behind a white veil, while her son was taken through the terminal in a wheelchair.

"I have no connections to Al Qaeda," she said before hurrying into a waiting car.

Karim's father, Ahmed Said Khadr, a suspected Al Qaeda leader and Egyptian-born Canadian, was killed in the gunbattle in Pakistan.

Abdurahman Khadr, who lives in Toronto, has been fighting to bring his brother and mother, who are both Canadian citizens, here, though his campaign has sparked some opposition from opposition politicians.

Abdurahman Khadr was taken prisoner in Kabul in Nov 2001 as US forces hunted Taliban and Al Qaeda holdouts, months after the Sept 11 attacks.

He said in an interview with CBC last month that worked as a CIA agent, spying on inmates at the US internment camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.-AFP