Al-Qaeda Plans to Turn Tanker into Floating Bomb

(Telegraph-UK)Philip Sherwell, Massoud Ansari, and Marianne Kearney - U.S. intelligence has intercepted communications between activists from the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network - blamed for last week's suicide attack on the Australian embassy in Indonesia - about a plot to hijack an oil tanker or freighter and turn it into a floating bomb. The hijacked ship would be wired with explosives and then directed at other vessels, sailed towards a port, or used to threaten the narrow and congested sea routes around Indonesia. Meanwhile, detained militants in Pakistan told their interrogators that last week's taped message from Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, was a signal for al-Qaeda cells that were already on standby to begin a new wave of bloody attacks against Western targets. "The cadres linked to the terror network were told to carry out an attack once this video is released," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official.


2004-09-13 00:00:00

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