‘Al Qaeda plotting attacks to impact US elections’

ISLAMABAD – Al Qaeda operatives captured in Pakistan were plotting terrorist attacks aimed at influencing the US presidential elections in November, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told AFP yesterday.

One of the top operatives had been contacted by al Qaeda’s chief Osama bin Laden as recently as last year, but the elusive figurehead was not involved in the fresh terror plots, the official said. The terrorist network was looking to pull off major attacks in the United States, Britain or Pakistan in the run-up to the polls but its capacity has been crippled by recent arrests in Pakistan, said the official.”The network was looking to strike a major blow ahead of the elections.Al Qaeda was looking to strike in the United States or its chief allies Great Britain and Pakistan,” said the official, asking to remain anonymous.”The period before the US presidential elections was very critical,” said the official, who has played a key role in a crackdown against al Qaeda in Pakistan over the past month which has netted over 20 suspected operatives.The alleged head of a British-based al Qaeda cell, Abu Eisa Al Hindi, who was arrested last week after a tip-off from Pakistan, was probably involved in the plots against the United States, said the official.Information extracted by Pakistani investigators from al Qaeda suspects detained in recent weeks has led to a spate of arrests in Britain and caused a major terrorism alert in the United States.Most of the information came from 25-year-old Pakistani computer whizz Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested in a house near Lahore airport on July 12, said the official.”The arrest of Naeem Noor Khan opened up a floodgate of information,” he said.Khan’s computer files contained detailed photos and surveillance records of key financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington as well as London’s Heathrow airport.His capture led to the July 25 arrest of a Tanzanian suspect in the 1998 East Africa US embassy bombings, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, another key terror planner in Osama bin Laden’s network.”This group in Pakistan was in close contact with the network in Britain, run by Abu Eisa Al Hindi,” the official said.”Al Hindi was probably helping in targeting the United States.”Ghailani had met bin Laden in 2002 and received a message from him in 2003.”Khalfan (Ghailani) said he had a contact with bin Laden, some two years ago.We have another information that OBL sent a message to him sometime in June last year.But Khalfan has not met him since 2002,” the official said.Ghailani had turned up in Pakistan’s northwest tribal district South Waziristan some time last year, the official said.He had disappeared after the US indicted him in December 1998 over the east Africa bombings.He fled Pakistani army raids earlier this year and headed east.- Nampa-AFPThe terrorist network was looking to pull off major attacks in the United States, Britain or Pakistan in the run-up to the polls but its capacity has been crippled by recent arrests in Pakistan, said the official.”The network was looking to strike a major blow ahead of the elections.Al Qaeda was looking to strike in the United States or its chief allies Great Britain and Pakistan,” said the official, asking to remain anonymous.”The period before the US presidential elections was very critical,” said the official, who has played a key role in a crackdown against al Qaeda in Pakistan over the past month which has netted over 20 suspected operatives.The alleged head of a British-based al Qaeda cell, Abu Eisa Al Hindi, who was arrested last week after a tip-off from Pakistan, was probably involved in the plots against the United States, said the official.Information extracted by Pakistani investigators from al Qaeda suspects detained in recent weeks has led to a spate of arrests in Britain and caused a major terrorism alert in the United States.Most of the information came from 25-year-old Pakistani computer whizz Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested in a house near Lahore airport on July 12, said the official.”The arrest of Naeem Noor Khan opened up a floodgate of information,” he said.Khan’s computer files contained detailed photos and surveillance records of key financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington as well as London’s Heathrow airport.His capture led to the July 25 arrest of a Tanzanian suspect in the 1998 East Africa US embassy bombings, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, another key terror planner in Osama bin Laden’s network.”This group in Pakistan was in close contact with the network in Britain, run by Abu Eisa Al Hindi,” the official said.”Al Hindi was probably helping in targeting the United States.”Ghailani had met bin Laden in 2002 and received a message from him in 2003.”Khalfan (Ghailani) said he had a contact with bin Laden, some two years ago.We have another information that OBL sent a message to him sometime in June last year.But Khalfan has not met him since 2002,” the official said.Ghailani had turned up in Pakistan’s northwest tribal district South Waziristan some time last year, the official said.He had disappeared after the US indicted him in December 1998 over the east Africa bombings.He fled Pakistani army raids earlier this year and headed east.- Nampa-AFP