Mas’ood died on early Saturday morning after he was seriously injured exactly a week ago when two suicide terrorists believed to have been Moroccans, who had posed as journalists, detonated a photo camera loaded with explosive while interviewing him in his office in the Khajeh Baha’eddin area.

"Mas’ood died at 10 a.m. in Khodja Bahauddin in the northern Takhar province" his spokesman, Abdollah, said in a telephone interview.

Afghan sources said the assassination of Mas’ood was "directly" related to the explosions in the United States.

Other Afghan sources confirmed, noting that "no one, at least for the time being", can replace Mas’ood.

The charismatic Ahmad Shah Mas’ood was the most redoubtable opponent of the hard line Islamic Taleban who are controlling more than 90 per cent of the Afghan territory.

''It was a brutal attack on Mas’ood by terrorists'', Dr. Abdullah said. ''Mas’ood warned the world about the threat of terrorists but they didn't listen to this.''

Mas’ood's brother, Ahmad Wali also blamed the suicide attack on the Taleban, the Inter-Services Intelligence of the Pakistani army, and the Taliban's ally, Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden.

Both Pakistan and the Taleban have denied involvement and there has been no comment from Mr. Ben Laden.

General Mohammad Fahim, a former chief of Mas’ood intelligence services had been named as interim commander of the anti-Taleban forces.

Though the news about the terrifying destruction of WTC towers overshadowed that of the assassination of the Afghan leader, nevertheless, personalities around the world expressed their sorrow.

Moscow, once Mas’ood's arch foe during the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan, sent condolences, while Tehran condemned the "terrorist attack".

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a short letter addressed to Mas’ood's successor, Mohammad Fahim, that he sympathised with the guerrilla leader's relatives and brothers in arms.

"I have no doubt that we will continue to cooperate in rebuilding peace and stability in Afghanistan," Ivanov said.

Mr. Alain Madelain, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party regretted that the West did not listened, nor understood Mas’ood, who, he described as the "heroic commander of anti Islamist-fascist front-lines".

"I pay tribute today with emotion to the courage of the politician, the tenacity of the fighter, deeply concerned about the well-being of his people", Mr. Forni said in a statement.

"The assassination of Commander Masood...is a severe blow to the heroic Afghan resistance against the regressive Taleban regime", Francois Loncle, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, said in a statement.

"His death has to be seen in the context of the many people who have died in the conflict there. There clearly needs to be a comprehensive approach to restoring peace in Afghanistan. It underlines the need for a broad-based and legitimate government to come to power."

Mas’ood, 48, spearheaded Afghan resistance during the Soviet Union's 10-year occupation, but became an ally after the Taleban took control of most of the impoverished mountainous state.

"The memory of this great man who spent his life defending his country and the independence of the Islamic nation will be remembered by generations of Afghans and history", Kharrazi said.

The states at Thursday's gathering discussed new supplies to the alliance at a time when the Taleban is preparing for possible US military retaliation after this week's bombings in New York and Washington.

"The countries surrounding Afghanistan, opposed to the Taleban, see an opportunity to push for their fall. The expected US military action helps these countries because the Taleban would become weaker," said a western diplomat in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

In a statement faxed to the official news agency IRNA, the interior ministry said military and police forces have been deployed along the eastern border to prevent the influx of would-be Afghan refugees into Iran in the aftermath of the probable U.S. attacks.

Iran has shown sympathy and support to the United States following the attacks that collapsed the U.S. landmarks, commemorating the victims by staging candlelit vigils and observing a minute of silence at a packed Tehran football stadium.

Iran is home to one of the world's largest refugee population caused by a long drawn-out war plaguing neighbouring Afghanistan.

Central Asia's former Soviet republics fear the Taleban because of its commitment to push Islamic insurgents, including those trained under Mr bin Laden's organisation, into relatively liberal central Asia. Some of the Islamic activists trained in Afghanistan are thought to have travelled as far as Chechnya to support the Chechen separatists, intelligence sources say.

The Northern Alliance appears to be banking on the possibility of being recognised as Afghanistan's alternative leadership in the event of the Taleban eventually falling from power, western diplomats say.

By contrast, the Taleban, mostly members of the main Pushtoon tribes, takes pride for eradicating widespread lawlessness, even though their extreme practices such as a ban on women working in most professions have made them deeply unpopular inside and outside Afghanistan.

Mas’ood's death threatens to strengthen the hand of the Taleban by splintering the Afghan opposition, which was held together by his charismatic leadership.

Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, and Mas’ood rode triumphantly into Kabul on a tank in 1992, the year the pro-Moscow government fell.
       Ma’sood was Defence minister in the government of Borhaneddin Rabbani until they were thrown out of Kabul in 1996 by invading Taleban troops, backed by the Pakistan army.

Analysts fear that without Mas’ood, the opposition, that comprises small groups representing mostly ethnic and religious minorities, would disintegrate, with some of them even considering joining the Taleban.