Posted on 05/18/2003 2:25:51 AM PDT by Destro
May 18 2003
'Al-Qaeda reorganising in Pakistan, Chechnya'
NEW YORK: The al-Qaeda terror network is reorganising, training new members and planning new attacks, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing counter-terrorism officials in Washington, Europe and the Middle East.
One senior official told the daily that al-Qaeda now had an estimated 3,000 members - far fewer than in the 1990s, when some 20,000 people were believed to have trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
But there has been a spike in recruitment since the US invaded Iraq in March, the report said. And the network is reorganising into "smaller, more disciplined units," with new leaders accustomed to operating on the run.
"Definitely, their capability has been eroded," a senior government official was quoted as saying. "But they are still a threat, they are still sophisticated, they are still fighting and they are still trying to strike in the US," the official said.
Authorities believe al-Qaeda has opened new training camps in Sudan and established "a strong foothold" in Kenya and other parts of East Africa.
Pakistan and Chechnya are also sites of "reorganised bases of operations", the report said. Al-Qaeda has even sent new scouts to the United States to look for targets, it said.
In the last two months US officials secretly arrested two Arab men suspected of scouting targets for attacks in America. A total of six suspected al-Qaeda members were arrested on the US soil "in recent months", the report said.
Based on intelligence and interviews with detained terrorists, officials believed al-Qaeda is still interested in mounting an attack with an aircraft. They have been studying possible targets including gasoline trucks, suspension bridges and landmarks, the report said.
Meanwhile, German intelligence officials believe al-Qaeda has regrouped under a new generation of leaders who can continue to draw on young terror recruits in several Arab countries, a newspaper reported.
A recent threat assessment drawn up by Germany's foreign intelligence service said al-Qaeda has put new people in key positions and has the finances to once again carry out coordinated terror attacks, Welt am Sonntag said.
Al-Qaeda's recruitment potential is intact in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, the paper quoted the confidential report as saying.
What a load! When was it ever disorganised or broken up in Pakistan? It's been sheltered there since 9/11. Where else has binladin been hiding under official protection since the Attacks on America.
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