NEW YORK - Files on a computer used by al Qaeda network officials foreshadowed the Sept 11 attacks on the United States and detailed the travels of an operative similar to those of the so-called shoe-bomber suspect, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

A few weeks before the Sept 11 attacks, leaders in the al Qaeda network got a report detailing "exceptionally good opportunities" for terrorism in Israel and Egypt, the newspaper said in its online edition.

The report suggested targeting tall buildings and planes, it added.

It also also mentions "brother Abdul Ra'uff", an operative whose travels mirror those of Richard Reid, the so-called shoe-bomber.

Reid, a British citizen, who is in jail in Boston, is accused of trying to destroy a trans-Atlantic airliner by detonating explosives in his shoes.

Just before Christmas, passengers and crew on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami overpowered the 28-year-old Reid and strapped him down with belts after a flight attendant saw him trying to set his shoes on fire.

The newspaper quoted an US intelligence official who has looked at the files as saying that Abdul Ra'uff "may well" be Reid.

A senior Israeli intelligence official said that his country is "positive" Reid had been sent to Israel to find possible targets. - Nampa-Reuters