'New bin Laden message to spark assassination'
Al-Qaida is planning a high profile political assassination which will be sparked by the release of a new message from terror chief Osama bin Laden, it was reported today.
The plot would target a world leader and be followed by attacks on “multiple targets in multiple venues”, intelligence officials told the Washington Times.
Plans for the new terror campaign were discovered on a computer belonging to an al-Qaida suspect recently arrested in Pakistan, the newspaper reported.
Intelligence chiefs in the United States believe there are several al-Qaida operatives already in America as part of the plot, but it is not known where they are.
But it was not believed that the target was President George Bush.
Rather, the terrorists may target US allies in the Middle East – such as Saudi Arabia or Yemen, sources told the newspaper.
Whatever the target, intelligence officials are certain al-Qaida’s plan is to destabilise the US.
“The goal of the next attack is twofold: to damage the US economy and to undermine the US election,” one official said.
“The view of al-Qaida is ’anybody but Bush’.”
The discovery of computer files on a laptop belonging to 25-year-old Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, arrested in Pakistan last month, sparked a new terror alert in the US.
Details of potential targets, including the New York Stock Exchange and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, were among the files seized, prompting added security at the sites.
The targeted areas – New York, Washington and Newark in New Jersey – were put on high “orange alert” as a result.
“There is a particular concern that chemical trucks will be used,” one official told the Washington Times.
Sources told the newspaper a new bin Laden video was expected to surface soon.
“The message likely will be the signal for the attack to be launched,” one official said.
Intelligence officials recently briefed US media that an al-Qaida attack could come in the next few weeks in a bid to destabilise the US ahead of the November 2 presidential election.
Officials have also said that al-Qaida is planning to use women for surveillance operations in the hope that they would raise fewer suspicions and cross borders with fewer difficulties.
