al-Qaeda deputy was trained by Russia's secret service
al-Qaeda's number two was trained by Russia's secret service and served as a KGB agent before becoming Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man, a former KGB secret agent told Poland's Rzeczpospolita newspaper yesterday.
"Ayman al-Zawahiri trained at a Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) base in Dagestan in 1998," claimed ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko who fled Russia in 2000.
"He was then transferred to Afghanistan where he became Osama bin Laden's deputy", Litvinenko told the newspaper.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "I was working in that section at the time and I can confirm the fact Zawahiri was not the only link between the FSB and al-Qaeda", he said.
Last month Al-Jazeera television aired a new videotape of Egyptian-born Zawahiri in which he called for more "jihad," or holy war, against US forces and Israel.
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