Al-Qaida planning 'spectacular' attack

US intelligence agents believe the al-Qaida terror network is planning a “spectacular” attack causing massive casualties, it was reported today.

The officials told The Washington Times the latest threat was focused on three areas: the United States, the Persian Gulf or Southeast Asia.

The CIA is worried it will be al-Qaida’s first attempt to carry out a terror strike using deadly chemical, biological or radiological weapons, the newspaper said.

The US last week raised its national terrorism alert status from code yellow, or “elevated” threat, to orange, or “high”. The higher alert was expected to remain in place for 45 days.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the move was “very clearly unrelated” to the build-up of US troops around Iraq.

But counter-terrorism experts disagreed, saying the impending hostilities with Iraq were linked.

“Al-Qaida plans to take advantage of an attack to enlist the support of radical Muslims and foster anti-American hostilities,” said former CIA counter-terrorism official Vincent Cannistraro.

US intelligence agencies believe al-Qaida is “planning to do something and they would like to do something spectacular,” he said.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Majallah has said Osama bin Laden plans to appear on audio and video-tapes after US military operations start against Baghdad.

The Saudi-owned weekly quoted Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid, who runs a pro-al-Qaida website, as saying the terror mastermind will “incite the Arab and Muslim nations to strike at US interests and repulse the US military presence in the Gulf.”