Shoe bomber linked to 'dummy run'

New evidence linking alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group has emerged in Afghanistan.

It reveals connections between British-born Reid and a man codenamed Brother Abdul Ra'uff, who undertook a reconnaissance mission for the terror network less than a month before 11 September. The new evidence, discovered on computer files in an al Qaeda building in Kabul, indicates that Reid and Ra'uff are one and the same man.

Reid has remained silent since his arrest last month after trying to detonate explosives in his shoes aboard an American Airlines plane from Paris to Miami. But agents in both the US and Israel think he may have undertaken an assignment to map out possible terror targets for Osama bin Laden's network.

Today's Wall Street Journal says a reporter discovered a 13-page report on the mission undertaken by Ra'uff among files acquired from a house in the Afghan capital. Analysis shows that Ra'uff went to the Netherlands, Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan at the time Reid is known to have gone there. He got a new British passport at the consulate in Amsterdam, as Reid is known to have done. He bought a ticket to Israel, which Reid did, and like Reid crossed into Egypt by bus.

The Wall Street Journal says US intelligence officials believe Ra'uff "may well be" Reid. If this is the case 28-year-old Reid, presently in custody in Boston, may prove to be one of the FBI's biggest captives so far in the war against terror.

Meanwhile in London today it emerged that an Islamic charity has had its bank account frozen after claims it has close ties with Osama bin Laden. The International Development Foundation (IDF), which has offices in Curzon Street, was said in a French parliamentary report to have "points of contact" with al Qaeda. Following a Charity Commission probe it has been forced to freeze its bank accounts and a court order has been issued demanding full disclosure of IDF accounts and records. A Commission spokesman said: "Following two meetings with the charity it is clear they will not cooperate fully."

The Commission believes the IDF, which has two accounts said to contain £25,000, has connections with Kahlid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman said to have welcomed Bin Laden into his Buckinghamshire mansion.

Saudi-based charity trustees Mohammed, Saleh, Abdelelah and Ahmed bin Mahfouz are reported to have denied knowledge of Kahlid, their brother, when first approached by investigators. The four have registered addresses at the Saudi Economic and Development Company which controls the IDF and has offices in Curzon Street.

British authorities are still in talks with the US government over access to the three al Qaeda prisoners at a US naval base in Cuba who have identified themselves as Britons. They could face the death penalty if tried by US military tribunals. But US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: "I do not feel the slightest concern over their treatment."

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