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U.S. Fears al Qaeda Starting Campaign

Officials think terrorist group has revitalized, aiming to strike

Thursday, October 10, 2002
By Jonathan S. Landay
Knight Ridder

U.S. officials said Wednesday that voice recordings received by the Associated Press in London and the al Jazeera television station in Qatar this week almost certainly were made within the past few months by Ayman al Zawahiri, an Egyptian who has been bin Laden's closest aide and spiritual advisor. “It's probably [Zawahiri],” said an U.S. official with knowledge of preliminary U.S. government analyses of the recordings. If genuine, the recordings would prove that Zawahiri, 51, has eluded U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan, and could mean that bin Laden did too, because the two were virtually inseparable.

Washington -- KR
A new threat of coming attacks, apparently issued by Osama bin Laden's top aide, and recent killings of American soldiers in Kuwait and the Philippines have U.S. officials worried that a revitalized al Qaeda may be launching a new terrorism campaign.

One Marine, Tony Sledd of Tampa, was killed and a second was injured Tuesday when two assailants in a pickup truck opened fire during a military exercise on an island off Kuwait City. Marines fatally shot the pair. They were later identified as Kuwaitis. On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the incident a terrorist attack.

In what could be a related incident, a U.S. soldier fired Wednesday at the driver of a civilian vehicle after one of its two occupants pointed a weapon at the soldier's Humvee, said Marine Corps Maj. Rob Riggle, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command. The incident on Highway 80, north of Camp Doha, is where U.S. forces in Kuwait are based. U.S. and Kuwaiti officials are investigating, Riggle said.

No U.S. personnel were injured, and it was not clear what happened to the occupants of the civilian vehicle.

The two shootings have intensified fears of hostility toward the approximately 6,000 U.S. military personnel in Kuwait, which is regarded as a vital launch pad for a possible attack against Iraq.

U.S. officials said they were examining whether Wednesday's incident was related to Tuesday's.
(More: The Miami Herald News Source)
2002 © Knight Ridder - Washington Bureau.

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