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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (46811)	8/11/2004 6:50:26 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

Al Qaeda plotting attacks to influence US polls: Network crippled by recent arrests - Official ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: Al Qaeda operatives captured in Pakistan were plotting terrorist attacks aimed at influencing the US presidential elections in November, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told AFP on Tuesday. One of the top operatives had been contacted by Al Qaeda's chief Osama bin Laden as recently as last year, but the elusive figurehead was not involved in the fresh terror plots, the official said. The terrorist network was looking to pull off major attacks in the United States, Britain or Pakistan in the run-up to the polls but its capacity has been crippled by recent arrests in Pakistan, said the official. "The network was looking to strike a major blow ahead of the elections. Al Qaeda was looking to strike in the United States or its chief allies Great Britain and Pakistan," said the official, asking to remain anonymous. "The period before the US presidential elections was very critical," said the official, who has played a key role in a crackdown against Al Qaeda in Pakistan over the past month which has netted over 20 suspected operatives. The alleged head of a British-based Al Qaeda cell, Abu Eisa Al Hindi, who was arrested last week after a tip-off from Pakistan, was probably involved in the plots against the United States, said the official. Information extracted by Pakistani investigators from Al Qaeda suspects detained in recent weeks has led to a spate of arrests in Britain and caused a major terrorism alert in the US. Most of the information came from 25-year-old Pakistani computer whiz Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested in a house near Lahore airport on July 12, said the official. "The arrest of Naeem Noor Khan opened up a floodgate of information," he said. Khan's computer files contained detailed photos and surveillance records of key financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington as well as London's Heathrow airport. His capture led to the July 25 arrest of a Tanzanian suspect in the 1998 East Africa US embassy bombings, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, another key terror planner in Osama bin Laden's network. "This group in Pakistan was in close contact with the network in Britain, run by Abu Eisa Al Hindi," the official said. "Al Hindi was probably helping in targeting the United States." Ghailani had met Osama in 2002 and received a message from him in 2003. "Khalfan (Ghailani) said he had a contact with bin Laden, some two years ago. We have another information that OBL (Osama) sent a message to him sometime in June last year. But Khalfan has not met him since 2002," the official said. Ghailani had turned up in Pakistan's northwest tribal district South Waziristan some time last year, the official said. He had disappeared after the US indicted him in December 1998 over the east Africa bombings. He fled Pakistani army raids earlier this year and headed east. "He took part in skirmishes against Pakistan army and moved out of Waziristan some time in June," the official said. He was found living in the crowded eastern industrial town of Gujrat, which straddles the busy Great Trunk Road between Islamabad and Lahore, renting a house with two South African Al Qaeda suspects and several women and children. While in Gujrat Ghailani had been training suicide bombers to attack high-profile Pakistani figures at Islamabad airport and the nearby Chaklala air force base, investigators have said. Within 24 hours of the announcement of Ghailani's arrest, a suicide bomber struck the car of prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz after a by-election rally in Attock, west of Islamabad. Mr Aziz survived but his driver and eight other people were killed. The official believed the network's ability to carry out the planned strikes had been crippled by the recent wave of arrests and interrogations. "Never before have Al Qaeda suffered such huge setbacks... On the basis of that information Al Qaeda's plans have been dealt a very serious blow," he said. "Their ability to strike in the United States or in Britain during the critical period is effectively crippled." An Al Qaeda suspect said to have been involved in two December attempts to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf was arrested in Dubai last week and handed over to Pakistan. Pakistani authorities are questioning Qari Saifullah Akhtar over "many terrorist cases," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP on Monday.