Arm offered to U.S. in al-Qaida probe

LONDON, May 9 (UPI) -- The former Egyptian intelligence officer offered Washington an arm of one of al-Qaida No. 2's relatives for use as DNA evidence, his nephew claims.

U.S. forces had al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountainous Afghan region of Tora Bora in late 2001 though he was able to slip across the border to Pakistan.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced last week that bin Laden was killed during a raid at a Pakistani compound by a team of Navy SEALs. Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, is one of the names rumored to take his place as the leader of al-Qaida.

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's former intelligence chief, offered to provide his U.S. counterparts with the arm of Mohammed Zawahiri, Ayman al-Zawahiri brother, to be used as DNA evidence, The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reports.

U.S. forces had wanted to test charred remains from the 2001 raid on Tora Bora to see if they belonged to al-Qaida's deputy leader.

Abdel Rahman al-Zawahiri, a nephew of the deputy, was quoted as saying the Americans declined, saying they only needed a small sample.

Mohammed Zawahiri had been sentenced to death in Egypt. He was released shortly after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was run out of office in February but was arrested two days later.