Bin Laden deputy's family killed

Supporters say Mr Zawahri is on the run in Afghanistan

By Heba Saleh in Cairo

Relatives of the Egyptian Islamic militant Ayman al-Zawahri have placed a death notice in the Cairo press announcing the killing of his wife and children.

Mr Zawahri, regarded as the second man in Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, is a chief suspect in the 11 September attacks in the United States.

Osama Bin Laden: Mr Zawahri's group is the backbone of al-Qaeda

The death notice in the Egyptian newspaper says that the family of Ayman al-Zawahri announces to the Islamic nation the martyrdom of his wife and children.

They are thought to have been killed by US bombing of the eastern Afghanistan area of Tora Bora, where many al-Qaeda members are hiding.

The notice also cites an address where telegrams of condolences can be sent.

An Egyptian Islamic militant based in London has been quoted as saying that Mr Zawahri's wife and five children were killed when the house was hit during an American bombing raid.

Assassination role

In the last few days, Mr Zawahri himself has variously been reported as having been injured or killed, but militants in London say he is unhurt and still on the run in Afghanistan.

Mr Zawahri leads the Egyptian Jihad group which is regarded as the backbone of al-Qaeda.

Trained as a surgeon, he took up the militant Islamic calls even before he had left school.

He served three years in an Egyptian prison for his role in the 1981 assassination by Jihad of former president Anwar Sadat.

In the late 80s Mr Zawahri made his way to Afghanistan from where he reconstituted his group and planned a series of unsuccessful attacks in Egypt.

Islamist sources say these failures helped convert him to Bin Laden's brand of international jihad, targeting the United States, for what was seen as its enmity towards Islam.