|
Top spies see alqaeda plotting { May 16 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=2&u=/nm/20030516/ts_nm/attack_qaeda_dc_1http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=2&u=/nm/20030516/ts_nm/attack_qaeda_dc_1
Yahoo! News Fri, May 16, 2003
Top Stories - Reuters
U.S. Spy Agencies See Signs Qaeda Plotting Attack
1 hour, 39 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies have picked up signs just as strong as those before this week's bombings in Saudi Arabia that al Qaeda is plotting further imminent attacks, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The "chatter" among terrorism suspects picked up by U.S. eavesdropping may even be "more definitive" than prior to the coordinated car bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh on Monday, an intelligence official said.
Another U.S. official said the signs were just as strong as prior to the Saudi attacks that killed 34 people, including eight Americans.
Both officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not known where Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s network might strike next.
Other officials said there were potential threats to Western interests in Saudi Arabia, Iraq (news - web sites), East Africa -- including Kenya -- and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Malaysia, officials said.
The State Department has warned of a possible imminent attack in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah, the potential for "terrorists using shoulder-fired missiles" in Kenya, and possible terrorism threats in Malaysia.
The intelligence official cited "strong indications that they (al Qaeda) are building to something soon," possibly in the next few days.
It appeared the threats were aimed at targets overseas, rather than in the United States where the national threat level remained unchanged at "elevated."
The "chatter" appeared to be "more consistent, more repetitive" about another attack than it was before the Saudi bombings, the intelligence official said.
Al Qaeda would like to strike U.S. government facilities such as embassies or military installations, officials said.
"They certainly would be high on their list of places they would like to hit, but they are also places that are hard to hit, so they might go somewhere else," one official said.
Targets could be any places frequented by Americans or other Westerners such as housing complexes, businesses, bus stops or other public transport sites, the officials said.
"They will go where they can get the most damage with the least amount of effort that is going to ensure success for their operation," the intelligence official said. "They will go toward an easier target."
Methods of attack could include car bombings, maritime attacks, the use of airplanes, or poisons, the other U.S. official said.
The official said it was a reasonable assumption that the attacks in Saudi Arabia had been approved by bin Laden, who is thought to have survived the U.S. war on Afghanistan (news - web sites) launched after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Hijacked aircraft were crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites) in those attacks, killing about 3,000 people.
"We know that bin laden is in charge of al Qaeda, we know that the senior leadership of al Qaeda traditionally has approved major operations, this would probably be called a major operation," he said.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe bin Laden is hiding in the rugged border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Kenya said on Friday there was a specific al Qaeda threat to British Airways planes flying into Nairobi and Britain warned its citizens of a "clear terrorist threat" in six countries in the region.
British Airways suspended all flights in and out of Kenya on Thursday after Britain advised against traveling there and told all British airlines to halt flights to and from the east African country.
|
|
