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.
