AN Ethiopian man accused of killing an Indian national, claiming that the man reminded him of al- Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, appeared briefly in the White River magistrate's court yesterday.

Solomon Kebedi has been remanded in custody pending his next court appearance next week Thursday.

The case has been adjourned in order to allow the police to conduct further investigations.

Hazyview police spokesperson Constable Mpho Koli said Kebedi was arrested in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, on Saturday afternoon.

Koli said the man was arrested just three hours after the alleged murder.

She said Kebedi had dragged the victim from Hazyview shopping complex to an open space where he started chopping him up with a dagger.

"We received a phone call about the incident at 2pm," Koli said.

"When we arrived on the scene we found the victim's body in a pool of blood.

"We also found two sharp knives that had been used to kill him."

Kebedi told the police that he killed the victim because he looked like Osama bin Laden.

He said he thought he was killing the al-Qaeda leader.

Police were reluctant to divulge the name of the 36-year-old victim because his relatives had not yet been notified.