Officials say al-Qaeda network still a threat
By Mark Huband and Jimmy Burns in London
Published: February 19 2002 21:02 | Last Updated: February 20 2002 04:16
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network is preparing for a new phase of activity, western intelligence officers have told the Financial Times.
Despite the destruction of its presence in Afghanistan, waves of arrests and the targeting of terrorist funds around the world since the September 11 attacks, security services fear that al-Qaeda is still successfully recruiting, and seeking new targets.
"There are a lot of these guys out there, and they will pick themselves off the floor and strike again," a senior intelligence official said on Tuesday.
The official confirmed that reorganisation of al-Qaeda's top leadership was under way, co-ordinated by Abu Zubaydah, a bin Laden deputy known to have escaped from Afghanistan and described by the official as a "very serious player" with an extensive knowledge of al-Qaeda's global network.
European countries and the US remain on high alert about the possibility of new attacks. Security officials are particularly concerned about al-Qaeda "sleepers" who have been in place since before September 11, and who may now be planning actions drawing upon logistical support in the UK and mainland Europe.
In the UK, anti-terrorist police are now operating on the assumption that there is a hard core of up to 100 supporters of bin Laden in the UK, any one of whom could be turned to terrorism in the months ahead.
Frank Spicka, head of counter-terrorism at Interpol, and a former secret service bodyguard to US presidents, said: "There is growing evidence that many individuals were evacuated from Afghanistan before the military offensive. It's safe to assume that many of them have entrenched themselves elsewhere in the world."
Even the most conservative estimate circulating within European security circles is that there could be up to 4,000 terrorists at large. "No one is feeling comfortable that we're on top of it," one French intelligence officer said.
Referring to prisoners held in Afghanistan and at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, one security analyst said: "It's debatable just how much the US-led offensive has contributed to our detailed knowledge of alQaeda as it is today."
Throughout western Europe, concerns are growing that September 11 acted as an inspiration to new, young recruits. "There is now a network being reconstructed in Europe . . . more secretive, more radicalised and with a greater capacity for violence," said Guillaume Dasquié, a French anti-terrorist expert and editor of Intelligence Online.
With additional reporting by Edward Alden in Washington
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