CAIRO Ñ Egyptian authorities were said to have foiled an attempt by
Al Qaida to forge cooperation with Islamic insurgents in Egypt and the
United States.
Arab diplomatic sources said the attempt was conducted by Jose Padilla,
a suspected Al Qaida agent arrested in Islamabad and now in U.S. custody.
The sources said Egyptian officials have relayed to Washington information
that Padilla tried to negotiate a cooperation accord with the Jihad
organization.
Padilla, the sources said, was believed to have been an envoy of Jihad
leader Ayman Zawahari, the chief deputy of Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.
Zawahari has been seeking to renew the Islamic insurgency against the
Egyptian regime.
The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on Thursday that Padilla
arrived in Cairo in March to meet Jihad representatives. The newspaper said
Egyptian authorities were informed of the meeting and forced Padilla to
leave the country.
The newspaper said Padilla, who is married to an Egyptian woman, visited
Cairo several times over the last few years. Padilla was said to have been
in the early stages of planning to assemble a radiation bomb for an attack
on a U.S. facility.
Padilla, who converted to Islam and took the name of Abdullah Al
Majahir, was arrested on May 8 in the United States and transferred to a
military prison earlier this week. U.S. officials have termed Padilla as an
"enemy combatant" trained by Al Qaida in nonconventional weapons training.
"He received training by Al Qaida in the art of radiological material,
in the art of detonation of bombs," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said
on Wednesday. "And the actions that our government took are actions that I
think most people realize are just what the government is looked to to do,
to protect us from people who come here to do us harm."
Egypt has led efforts in the Arab world to foster cooperation against
Islamic insurgency groups. On Thursday, Arab League security officials are
scheduled to conclude a conference to discuss counter-insurgency
cooperation. Officials said the discussions included ways to stop financing
to groups deemed as terrorists as well as bolstering aviation security.
