Dying al Qaeda suspect out on bail

An al Qaeda terror suspect wanted in the US for attacks which killed 224 people is today being freed on bail from a top security mental hospital in Britain.

The Egyptian-born suspect will be released from Broadmoor to live at a specified address in London after David Blunkett gave the go-ahead.

The Home Secretary agreed to the controversial move on the grounds that the 43-yearold, who can only be known as Mr X for legal reasons, has terminal bone cancer.

But a senior judge urged him to waste no time in coming to a decision over whether or not to extradite Mr X, who has been in British custody for five years, to the US.

Mr X, a married father-of-six, is accused of giving the direct

orders to the terror cell that carried out the bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 which killed more than 200 and injured a further 4,000.

Meanwhile, a close confidant of Osama bin Laden, seen on a videotape with the al Qaeda chief as he talked about the September 11 terror attacks, has surrendered to Saudi diplomats in Iran.

Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby was shown on Saudi TV being pushed in a wheelchair through the Riyadh airport.

He has been flown to Saudi under the terms of the kingdom's amnesty to spare the lives of militants who turn themselves in.