(Newsweek)- An al Qaeda terror network in the U.S. was organized and directed by the group's chief of operations, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), a top U.S. law-enforcement official said. After 9-11, al Qaeda began to recruit U.S. citizens or people with legitimate Western passports who could move freely. They used women and family members as "support personnel." And they made an effort to find African-American Muslims who would be sympathetic to Islamic extremism. Using "mosques, prisons, and universities throughout the U.S.," according to intelligence documents, KSM lined up agents in Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and Peoria, Ill. The plotters were apparently scheming to take down the Brooklyn Bridge, destroy an airliner, derail a train, and blow up a series of gas stations.
2003-06-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive