- BERLIN (Reuters) - Western
spies have detected a resumption of the intense communication among Islamic
activists last seen in the months before the September 11 attacks, a senior
Western intelligence source said on Thursday.
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- The source said Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network had
regained strength and was signaling its capability in recent statements
broadcast on Qatar's al-Jazeera television station.
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- "The al Qaeda network's ability to take action has
increased and it is signaling this to its followers through an increasing
number of messages over al-Jazeera," the senior source, who declined
to be identified, told Reuters in an interview.
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- In October alone, al-Jazeera broadcast two statements
claiming to be from bin Laden, threatening more attacks on the United States
and praising recent attacks on the French-flagged tanker Limburg and on
U.S. troops training on a Kuwaiti island.
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- One statement came in the form of a voice recording broadcast
by al-Jazeera, while the other was in text form, on a fax sent to the station.
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- The last bin Laden video emerged in April, undated, and
was a warning to the United States it would not feel safe until Palestinians
enjoyed peace.
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- "Parallel to this there has been heightened communications
activity among Islamic activists. The result has been an increase in information
from intelligence sources that is similar to the picture of summer 2001,"
the source said.
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- "The problem remains that the concrete target and
concrete date are unknown."
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- The source's comments follow repeated warnings from U.S.
officials that al Qaeda has regrouped and is planning another attack. The
remarks also suggest intelligence services are giving credence to al Qaeda
broadcasts on al-Jazeera.
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- "The terrorist threat to the Western world, including
to Germany, is unabated," the source said.
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- Fears have grown that Germany might become an al Qaeda
target because the country is holding the world's first trial of a suspect
accused of aiding last year's suicide hijacking attacks on the United States
that killed more than 3,000 people.
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- Germany is also taking part in the U.S.-led fight against
Islamic extremists, agreeing last year to dispatch up to 4,000 troops,
including some elite troops from its "KSK" unit which are believed
to have been involved in combat in Afghanistan.
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- CIA Director George Tenet said recently that al Qaeda
has reorganized, was in an "execution phase" and intended to
attack Americans overseas and on U.S. soil, amid a threat atmosphere as
serious as in the months before September 11.
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- U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge will visit
Europe next week to bolster defenses against attacks. He warned on Thursday
that future terror attacks on the United States were inevitable but that
the rest of the world was also vulnerable.
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- Bomb blasts on the Indonesian island of Bali this month
killed at least 184 people, many of them Western tourists, and revived
fears of random attacks. No one claimed responsibility.
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