Times of India : Terror plot: Evidence of Qaida link grows

Terror plot: Evidence of Qaida link grows

August 14, 2006

WASHINGTON: After more than a decade hunting al-Qaida, US counter-terrorism agencies are reviewing their understanding of the terror group, which they strongly believe was behind the plot to blow up some 10 jetliners bound for the US.

Several Western government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the ongoing investigations, said they do not yet have hard evidence to pin the attack on al-Qaida's central leadership - Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawhari or a tier of key operatives below them.

But the plot bears all of the best-known earmarks of the terrorist group. More than two dozen radicals, broken up into two- or three-member teams, were to assemble bombs made from everyday items on as many as 10 airplanes and blow them up as they travelled from Britain to the United States.

One intelligence official said not all the attackers knew one another, following operational security lessons taught in al-Qaida training manuals.

"Certainly in terms of the complexity, the sophistication, the international dimension and the number of people involved, this plot has the hallmarks of an al-Qaida-type plot," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Friday.

An intelligence official said that investigators are focusing on whether one of the people arrested early in the Pakistan investigation was an operational planner.

The official said Rashid Rauf, who has also been identified by Pakistanis as a key player, spent a lot of time overseeing the plotters and providing instructions to them.

Pakistan is questioning at least 17 people, including Rauf and one other British national whose name has not been released.

Authorities in Pakistan believe they have nabbed the main players in the plot, but say there are two or three people still at large.

Because of Rauf's suspected ties to al-Qaida figures, some in government believe there is a high probability the group will be connected to the plot, the intelligence official said.

It was not clear how cooperative he has been with interrogators. Some agencies have also focused on an al-Qaida explosives expert in Pakistan named Matuir Rehman, but his involvement is not certain and a matter of debate within the US government.

Counterterrorism officials are particularly reviewing the plotters' connections to Pakistan, where al-Qaida has a substantial base.

An intelligence agency recently intercepted a message from that country to the plotters in Britain urging them to move forward, after arrests were made in Pakistan, said a Western government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the region along the Afghan-Pakistan border. The disrupted plot has intelligence analysts taking a second look at questions such as what motivates citizens of a democratic country who are under age 25 to become radicalized, then leave their home country for terrorist training and return.