Lab in al-Qaida compound points to chemical weapons bid

Associated Press WriterKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An abandoned compound in the heart of Kabul used by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network appears to have been a makeshift laboratory, complete with foul-smelling liquids in dirty brown jars and scattered papers covered in chemical formulas.

The materials found at the compound -- deserted in haste as the Taliban fled the Afghan capital -- suggest al-Qaida may have been trying to develop chemical arms and other unconventional weapons.

Also found at the abandoned compound: a booklet offering advice on how to survive a nuclear explosion.

The United States has said that bin Laden's network was attempting to develop nuclear and chemical weapons, and the two-story house in the Karte Parwan district pointed to a keen interest in such weapons.

Room after room were filled with papers, formulas and maps, some partially burned, some with handwritten Arabic notations. There was a yellowed page from an old issue of Plane and Pilot magazine -- a story entitled, "A Flight to Remember."

The Times of London newspaper reported Thursday that designs for nuclear weapons and missiles were among the debris left behind in the house -- but it was unclear whether the documents the newspaper said it found consisted only of knowledge already in the public domain.

"There are descriptions of how the detonation of TNT compresses plutonium into a critical mass, sparking a chain reaction, and ultimately a thermonuclear reaction," The Times reported.

Written in Arabic, German, Urdu and English, the notes give "designs for missiles, bombs and nuclear weapons," it said.

Last weekend, a Pakistani newspaper quoted bin Laden as claiming that his organization had nuclear and chemical weapons. However, U.S. officials have said that they had no information to suggest he has been successful in his attempt to acquire such weaponry.

The Kabul compound appeared to have taken a direct hit from what northern alliance soldiers said was a U.S. rocket.

An alliance soldier in camouflage dress, Mohammed Nisar, walked through the rooms in three houses, pointing out pieces of paper with formulas, handwritten diagrams, pictures of rockets and other weaponry. In the basement of one house was what looked to be a laboratory.

In another house, where the al-Qaida men resided, according to Nisar, four different types of land mines were found. Northern alliance troops had emptied two old railway cars parked in the yard that its soldiers said had been packed with arms and ammunition.

"Look, you can see the land mines," Nisar said, moving to pick one up. "It's safe now, we have disarmed it."

At the rear of the main house, one room contained mountains of papers, some from training manuals showing diagrams of different weapons. One book in English was about how to use a recoilless rifle. In another room the floor was littered with small anti-personnel mines.

Deep beneath the house were what seemed to be bunkers, with a roof of fresh cement. In one bunker were parts of weapons, with the barrels of anti-aircraft weapons propped up in one corner.

In the yard and in the rooms more paper and diagrams -- some in Arabic, some in Persian, some in Urdu -- and maps with large circles to mark locations. Computer manuals were among the books.

Earlier this year, The Associated Press acquired an 11-volume Encyclopedia of Holy War, written in Arabic and dedicated to bin Laden and the Taliban.

At another al-Qaida compound, this one on the eastern edge of the city in the hills that surround Kabul's ancient Darulaman Palace, there was a sprawling training ground for al-Qaida recruits.

The training camp was located on a large base where Scud missile had been based when the former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989. The compound stretched over 1.2 miles. It took in several hilltop positions.

"We found lots of books and papers and newspapers," said Haji Abdullah, a northern alliance commander at the base. "We threw most of them out."

Some of the material that one young alliance soldier, Jan Aga, retrieved from the rubble included a laminated certificate that identified the holder as a "military training instructor."

The northern alliance, which now controls the abandoned base, had one Pakistani in their custody, Naimad Ullah. Just 17, Ullah could only speak Urdu. He looked terrified.

"I am afraid to say anything, they will take my head off," he said in Urdu. The northern alliance soldiers said they had kept him safe for three days and had captured him on the front lines north of Kabul.

Ullah said he was a student at a madrassa, or religious school, in Pakistan and had come to fight with the Taliban during his school holidays. His captors promised to keep him safe.

In their haste to flee the area, one Pakistani, Mohammed Khaliq left behind an unmailed letter home to his brother in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In a letter written Oct. 28, 12 days into air campaign, Khaliq said: "Don't worry about me. Pray for me five times a day. Our enemy is not strong, we will win. If we die here there is no greater reward."