World Tribune.com


Bin Laden prepares new attacks

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, October 1, 2001

LONDON Ñ Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden is preparing to launch new terrorist attacks over next few weeks, according to information obtained by western intelligence.

Officials said Bin Laden is believed to have ordered his agents in both Europe and the United States to scan targets and prepare spectacular strikes that could resemble those of the Islamic suicide attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11.

Bin Laden's plans have alarmed both London and Washington as well as several European capitals, Middle East Newsline reports. Officials said their concern is based on intelligence information obtained over the last two weeks.

"I understand he is preparing for high-impact terrorist attacks in the coming weeks, if he's able to," British Minister for Europe Peter Hain said. "We've got to track him down. We've got to stop him."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw agreed. Straw told the British Broadcasting Corp. that Bin Laden is preparing attacks. Western intelligence agencies, he said, do not know Bin Laden's targets.

"There continues to be a risk of them making further attacks," Straw said. "We don't know exactly where. On the one hand none of us wish to raise anxiety in the minds of the public, but we would be complacent and irresponsible not to warn of the risks."

Officials both in London and Washington assess that Bin Laden has hundreds of agents based in Europe and the United States on call for suicide attacks. They said the attacks could be launched even if Bin Laden is killed in a U.S. military campaign against terrorism.

On Sunday, the London-based Observer weekly reported that Britain and the United States would launch an attack on Bin Laden within two days. Other reports said U.S. commandos are already operating in Afghanistan.

Earlier this week a leading Arabic daily reported that Pakistan and the United States have agreed to launch a campaign to overthrow the ruling Afghan Taliban movement within days. The London-based Al Hayat reported on Wednesday that Islamabad and Washington have agreed to cooperate with the northern-based Afghan opposition in a drive to oust Taliban from Kabul. But the newspaper said the Bush administration and Congress do not agree on any military campaign against Taliban.

The newspaper quoted Russian sources as saying that a military campaign against Taliban could begin as early as between Thursday and Saturday. Such a campaign, the sources said, would be used by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a military offensive against Chechen rebels.

The sources said Britain and the United States will probably begin with a massive air attack on Taliban installations in Afghanistan. They said U.S. units have arrived in neighboring Uzbekistan for such an assault and have taken over Dushanbe airport, the largest in Central Asia.

Over the last week, Washington has been consulting with Russia over intelligence estimates regarding the military strength of Taliban. The assessment is that Taliban has about 30 Soviet-era tanks, none of them more modern than either the T-62 or T-55 models.

Taliban is also believed to have between 15 and 20 MiG-21 fighter-jets as well as the Sukhoi-22. Russian sources said Taliban is also said to have a limited arsenal of Scud ground-to-ground missiles and U.S.-made Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.

But in Washington, U.S. officials have not ruled out the prospect that Taliban or Bin Laden might use chemical weapons against U.S. troops. The Washington Times reported on Wednesday that Bin Laden has acquired from Russian organized crime groups components for weapons of mass destruction. The newspaper said Bin Laden might also have a nuclear weapons laboratory inside Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon ordered 2,000 more reservists to duty. Later, the House approved a $343 billion defense bill that diverted $400 million in funds from missile defense to counterterrorism efforts. In all, $6 billion has been allocated for counterterrorism.

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