By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
U.S. intelligence agencies have issued an
internal alert that Islamic terrorists are planning another spectacular attack
to rival those carried out on September
11.
The detailed warning was issued
within the past two weeks in a classified report that said one target was a U.S.
nuclear power plant or one of the Energy Department's nuclear
facilities.
The alert was based on sensitive
intelligence gathered overseas that revealed discussions among terrorism
suspects.
The latest warning was similar to
other terrorist threats that prompted public alerts in October and
December.
Officials familiar with the report
said it contained six potential methods and targets of attack, among
them:
•A bombing or airline attack on a nuclear
power plant or other U.S. nuclear facility, such as a weapons storage depot,
designed to cause mass casualties and spread deadly radiological
debris.
•A bombing against a U.S. warship in
Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, where some 20 ships are
based. The attack would be similar to the October 2000 suicide bombing attack on
the USS Cole.
•Another airliner attack on a
building using a hijacked commercial jet as a suicide
bomber.
•A vehicle bombing in Yemen.
Authorities in Yemen, acting on intelligence gathered by the United States in
Afghanistan, recently averted a car bombing of the U.S. Embassy in San'a by
finding the explosives-laden vehicle.
A public
alert had been issued Jan. 14 that said al Qaeda terrorists were planning an
attack in Yemen.
President Bush said in his
State of the Union speech Tuesday night that U.S. intelligence agencies had
uncovered plans of U.S. nuclear power plants at terrorist bases in Afghanistan,
an indication attacks on the facilities were
planned.
"We have found diagrams of American
nuclear power plants and public water facilities, detailed instructions for
making chemical weapons, surveillance maps of American cities, and thorough
descriptions of landmarks in America and throughout the world," Mr. Bush
said.
"What we have found in Afghanistan
confirms that — far from ending there — our war against terror is only
beginning," he said.
A defense official said
yesterday that intelligence gained from Afghanistan had led to the thwarting of
three terrorist attacks, including the arrests of terrorists in Singapore and
Yemen. A third operation is still "being rolled up," the official
said.
"We have been getting a lot of
indications [of an attack] but no specific threat information," the official
said.
Yemen's foreign minister, Abubaker
al-Qirbi, told The Washington Post on Wednesday that authorities in Yemen have
tracked down two key al Qaeda suspects in that
country.
Mr. al-Qirbi said Yemen was working to
capture a group of suspects wanted by the United States for questioning about
their links to Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11
attacks.
A U.S. intelligence official said the
intelligence community is constantly receiving new threat
data.
"It's a heightened threat environment,
and we get threat information on a regular basis," this official
said.
No public announcement has been made of
an impending terrorist attack based on recent assessments. But the information
related to a potential new attack first came to the attention of intelligence
agencies last week, officials said.
The last
time the Bush administration issued a public warning of a potential terrorist
attack was Dec. 3, when Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced that
Americans should be alert to the danger of an attack. It was the second such
warning.
"We remain on alert," Ridge spokesman
Gordon Johndroe said yesterday, adding that the FBI also has issued a warning to
law enforcement around the country to remain on high alert through March
11.
"Subsequent warnings for heightened
vigilance around utilities, nuclear power plants, water treatment plants were
issued a couple of weeks ago," Mr. Johndroe said in an interview. "The threat
remains, and therefore we remain on
alert."
Attorney General John Ashcroft said
Friday, in releasing a photograph of a suspected suicide terrorist, that "I want
to advise the public to exercise vigilance and common sense in the face of the
terrorism threat."
On Jan. 17, Mr. Ashcroft
released photographs of five al Qaeda terrorists whose statement made on
videotapes found in Afghanistan "suggest future terrorist acts, specifically
suicide attacks."
Energy Department spokeswoman
Lisa Cutler said security has been stepped up at nuclear-weapons facilities
throughout the United States since September
11.
In San Francisco yesterday, security guards
detected bomb residue on the shoes of a passenger seeking to pass through a
security checkpoint. The man disappeared before he could be
questioned.
On Dec. 22, Richard C. Reid, a
British national linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network, was arrested after he
tried to light the fuse of an explosives-laden shoe on a Paris-to-Miami flight,
authorities said.
THE END
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