Algerian arrested in Masood murder probe

Ahmed Shah Masood was known as The Lion of Panjshir

By the BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels

Police in Belgium have arrested an Algerian man in connection with an international investigation into the assassination of the Afghan Northern Alliance leader, Ahmed Shah Masood.

The arrest follows a series of raids earlier in the week against an alleged false passport ring.

The 30-year-old Algerian asylum seeker has been charged with forgery and criminal conspiracy.

A number of other people detained on Monday were released after questioning.

Egyptian activist Yasser al-Siri was charged last month

A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office refused to give further information about the suspect, but he did say that the focus on false passports was part of a wider investigation into the two men who killed Ahmed Shah Masood in September.

The two men, who were posing as journalists, detonated a bomb inside Mr Masood's headquarters in the Panjshir Valley.

False passports

They were carrying false Belgian passports, which the Belgian authorities believe were stolen from the Belgian consulate in Strasbourg or the embassy in The Hague.

It is not entirely clear whether the man who has been arrested is suspected only of passport forgery or whether the Belgian police believe he was directly involved in a conspiracy to kill Ahmed Shah Masood.

Last month, an Egyptian activist, Yasser al-Siri, was charged in Britain with being part of the plot against Mr Masood.