Al Qaida terrorists have launched a new
campaign of economic warfare and are targeting
shipping in the Middle East, according to U.S.
intelligence officials.
The Israeli sources said Israel and the
United States assess that Bin Laden probably
died in the U.S. military campaign in
Afghanistan in December. They said the emergence
of new messages by Bin Laden are probably
fabrications, Middle East Newsline reported.
But Bin Laden's heir has been chosen and his
colleagues have decided to resume Al Qaida's
offensive against the United States and Western
allies, the sources said.
They said the
organization regards the United States as the
main target followed by Israel.
"In this case, it doesn't matter whether Bin
Laden is alive or not," a senior Israeli
intelligence source said. "The organization goes
on with help from key people."
The sources said Al Qaida has already
determined Bin Laden's heir. They said the heir
has not been identified, but is probably not Bin
Laden's son, Saad. Saad is said to be in his 20s
and ranked within the top 20 members of Al Qaida.
Earlier this week, Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman
Zawahiri, was said to have released a videotape
in which he claims that the Al Qaida leader is
alive and functioning. Bin Laden's voice was not
heard on the tape.
A senior Bush administration economic
official said last week that another major Al
Qaida attack anywhere in the world could have
devastating economic repercussions.
The FBI warned last week that Al Qaida may be
preparing for a major attack. The warning
followed the release of an audio tape featuring
the voice of Zawahiri.
Bombings in Bali aimed at tourists, an attack
on U.S. soldiers training in Kuwait and the
bombing of a French tanker in Yemen are signs of
the new campaign,
Geostrategy-Direct.com
reported in its Oct. 22 edition.
The first attack was carried out last week
with the Al Qaida terrorist attack on the French
tanker Limburg, a 157,000-ton ultra large crude
oil carrier, that was bombed as it picked up a
pilot before mooring at the Yemeni port of al
Shihr.
One crew member was killed and others were
injured in the blast.
According to intelligence officials, a small
boat approached at high speed from the starboard
side of the ship and detonated a large explosive
device.
A week earlier, the Office of Naval
Intelligence issued an alert to ships in the
Middle East to be alert for Al Qaida terrorist
attacks.