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Morocco arrests three Saudi suspects in Al Qaida plot

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, June 11, 2002

CAIRO Ñ Morocco has arrested at least three Saudi nationals suspected of being ordered by Al Qaida to blow up NATO warships.

Arab diplomatic sources said the Saudis had been planning to attack NATO ships moving through the narrow Straits of Gilbratar. The sources said this was the second time in the last six months that Morocco had arrested Al Qaida insurgents suspected of targeting Western interests.

The arrests came after several allies of Rabat relayed information of the Al Qaida plot. The sources said both Britain, France, Spain, Tunisia and the United States aided in the Moroccan probe.

The sources said the Al Qaida insurgents arrested in May planned to stage a similar attack to the suicide strike on the USS Cole in Yemen October 2000. Al Qaida, the sources said, planned to use a rubber boat filled with explosives to ram into alliance warships on exercises and port visits in the western Mediterreanean.

Over the last six months, NATO ships have increased port visits and exercises with such Arab countries as Algeria and Tunisia. The sources said the insurgents were told to make U.S. and British warships a targeting priority.

The arrests of the Al Qaida suspects were confirmed by British and French officials. The United States did not issue comment.

In Washington, U.S. authorities foiled what officials said was an attempt to launch an attack with a dirty radioactive bomb. The officials said a U.S. citizen who had converted to Islam and was trained in Pakistan was planning to strike an unspecified target with a radioactive bomb for Al Qaida.

A radioactive bomb is not regarded as a weapon of mass destruction. A dirty bomb kills or injures through the initial blast of the conventional explosive and by airborne radiation and contamination.

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