04 Dec 2001

Al-Qaida Says Jihad Will Continue Even If Bin Laden Killed; Concerns Again Raised About Improvised Nuclear Device

A Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Tuesday that the spokesman for the al-Qaida terrorist network said the Jihad holy war would continue even if its leader terrorist mastermind Usama bin Laden was killed. Sulaiman bu Ghaith told the al-Watan newspaper: "The Jihad will continue even if bin Laden dies...every time Usama dies a new Usama will carry the flag."

Kuwait's al-Qabas newspaper had said on Monday that there were unconfirmed reports that Ghaith was wounded and possibly killed in the U.S. attacks against Afghanistan which started on 7 October. Al-Watan quoted sources in Afghanistan as saying Ghaith was alive.

In concurrence with earlier EmergencyNet News reports and previous public interviews with ERRI's Clark Staten, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday that bin Laden and his minions may be closer than first thought to developing a crude nuclear weapon. According to sources close to the Homeland Defense directorate in Washington, fear that bin Laden's network might be close to developing a "dirty bomb" had "no measurable impact" in the United States' decision on Monday to issue a new warning concerning possible terrorist attacks.

The newspaper said: "U.S. intelligence agencies have recently concluded that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network may have made greater strides than previously thought toward obtaining plans or materials to make a crude radiological weapon that would use conventional explosives to spread radioactivity over a wide area, according to both U.S. and foreign sources."

Some Pentagon sources, however, sought to downplay the Post reports, "We're not aware of anything 'new or different' concerning the possibility that bin Laden has obtained a so-called 'dirty bomb,'" Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke said today. But, Clarke did not dismiss the possibility of Bin Laden WMD's entirely, "Bin Laden has made clear his desire to have such weapons, and so we need to be very attentive, we need to be very concerned about that, just as we are concerned about the spread of weapons of mass destruction, in general," Clarke said.

The Post said an alert was raised from interrogation of captured al-Qaida members and evidence gathered in the last month at al-Qaida facilities in Afghanistan by CIA officers and U.S. special forces. The newspaper also said: "The concern is sufficiently deep that some countries have adopted extreme security procedures at their borders, including the increased use of hand-held devices that measure radioactivity."

According to the Post, the so-called dirty bomb could be made by taking highly radioactive material, such as spent reactor fuel rods, and wrapping it around readily-available conventional explosives. Other alternatives include illegally obtained Cesium 137 or Cobalt 60, which are used in medical and industrial applications. At least one diagram of a "dirty bomb" was said to be found in a Taliban or al-Qaida installation in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

The newspaper said recent intelligence reports had also described a meeting within the last year at which bin Laden was present, when one of his associates produced a canister that allegedly contained radioactive materials. The Post said the United States was sufficiently concerned by the report to ask several key allied nations to help determine whether the man with the canister may have entered or passed through their country, perhaps with radioactive material.

ERRI Usama Bin Laden archive page

ERRI Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction archive

© Copyright, EmergencyNet News Service, 2001. All rights reserved. May not be redistributed or otherwise published without the expressed permission of ERRI/EmergencyNet News.

Emergency Response & Research Institute
EmergencyNet News Service
6348 N. Milwaukee Ave. #312
Chicago, IL 60646, USA
773-631-3774 - Voice/Messages
773-631-4703 - Facsimile
http://www.emergency.com - Main Webpage
webmaster@emergency.com - E-mail