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Binny directing attacks against the US
A plot to carry out a large-scale terror attack against the United States in the near future is being directed by Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda members, senior intelligence officials said Thursday. Bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are overseeing the attack plans from their remote hideouts somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to senior intelligence officials. "This type of plotting, this type of operational activity, is being done with the direct direction and authorization of that senior leadership," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Arrests of terror suspects in Europe and the Middle East resulted in the new warning, said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. "We lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack," he said. "But along with the CIA, FBI and other agencies, we are actively working to gain that knowledge." A senior U.S. intelligence official said the warning was based on "a very strong body of intelligence." The planned attack is "an effort to disrupt the democratic process" before Novemberâs elections, Ridge said.Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-07-09 |
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