Libyan Blamed for Bomb at Cheney Visit

In this photo released by IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor monitoring al-Qaida messaging, a Libyan al-Qaida commander Abu Laith al-Libi speaks during a videotaped interview at undisclosed location by al-Qaidas al-Sahab media wing on April 27, 2007. Al-Libi was likely behind the deadly February bombing at a U.S. air base in Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, a U.S. military official says. (AP Photo/InterCenter, HO) (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A Libyan al-Qaida commander was probably behind the suicide bombing that killed 23 people outside the main U.S. base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press.

Abu Laith al-Libi, who was featured in an al-Qaida video last week, is believed to have trained bombers at terror camps in Afghanistan, including one raided by U.S. troops in eastern Khost province in 2005, said Maj. Chris Belcher, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.

Cheney was deep inside the sprawling Bagram base at the time of the February attack and was not hurt, but the bombing added to the impression that Western forces and the shaky government of President Hamid Karzai are vulnerable to assault by Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

"Our information suggests that Abu Laith al-Libi was the terrorist who planned the Feb. 27 suicide bomb attack at Bagram Airfield," Belcher said this week in an e-mail response to AP questions.

"We have information that the planning of this attack was falsely attributed to Osama bin Laden by (Taliban commander) Mullah Dadullah in order to boost the morale of bin Laden's followers worldwide, in an attempt to reassure those followers that bin Laden is not ill or dead," he said.

Dadullah, the Taliban's most prominent military commander, made the claim in an interview last month with Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Bin Laden, at large since soon after the Sept. 11 attacks on America, is generally assumed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border. The most recent audio message attributed to the al-Qaida leader was released last June, and he has not been seen on video since October 2004.

U.S. counterterrorism officials had said that bin Laden's apparent isolation would make it difficult for him to have operational control of a terrorist attack like the bombing during Cheney's visit.

U.S. officials also have said it was unclear if the attack at the base 30 miles north of Kabul was a coincidence or if militants knew Cheney was there.

He arrived in Afghanistan on Feb. 26, planning to leave the same day, but stayed the night because bad weather forced him to postpone a meeting with Karzai. The meeting was held in Kabul after the bombing and Cheney then left the country.

Belcher said it was "extremely unlikely" that al-Libi knew the vice president was still on the base because only a "handful" of people knew his location and travel plans. He reiterated that Cheney was never at risk, given the heavy security and the distance between his location and where the suicide bomber struck at an entrance to the base.

Soon after the attack, a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, claimed the militia staged the bombing. He said the bomber was an Afghan named Mullah Abdul Rahim and Cheney was the target.