Afghan police: Tribal leader involved in bin Laden escape among 15 killed in suicide bombing

Afghan police say Tora Bora commander killed

KABUL — Police say a suicide bomber has killed 15 people in eastern Afghanistan, including a key tribal leader who played a major role in a failed attempt to capture al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora in 2001.

Police Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi says the bomber set off his explosives in Khogyani district next to a small group of tribal elders and government workers as they were meeting Monday with a few hundred Afghan refugees who had recently returned from Pakistan.

Among the dead was Mohammad Zaman Ghamsharik, better known as Haji Zaman. He and another warlord from the Jalalabad area, Hazrat Ali, commanded Afghan forces who cornered the al-Qaida leader in the mountains of Nangarhar province but allowed him to slip away.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

KABUL (AP) — A police official says a suicide bomber has killed 15 people in eastern Afghanistan, including a key tribal leader.

Police Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi says the bomber set off his explosives next to a small group of tribal elders and government workers as they were meeting Monday with a few hundred Afghan refugees who had recently returned from Pakistan.

He says 15 people were killed in the blast in Nangarhar province and at least 15 others wounded. Among the dead was Mohammad Zaman, an influential tribal leader in the area and a former mujahedeen fighter.