WikiLeaks unveils Al-Qa’ida plot

.montrealgazette.

Montreal mosque called hub for militants

LONDON – Guantanamo interrogators have uncovered a determined attempt by Al-Qa’ida to attack Western countries using chemical or nuclear weapons, according to files made public through WikiLeaks.

The New York Times also reported Monday that intelligence documents from Guantanamo Bay cited a Montreal mosque – the Al Sunnah Al Nabawiah mosque on Hutchison St. in Park Extension – as among nine places of worship across the globe known as a hub for Islamist militants.

One of the terrorist group’s most senior figures warned that Al-Qa’ida had obtained and hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe that would be detonated if Osama bin Laden was killed or captured.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Al-Qa’ida mastermind facing trial in the U.S. over the 9/11 atrocities, was involved in a range of plans including attacks on nuclear plants and a “nuclear hellstorm” plot in the United States.

Some detainees displayed an apparently comprehensive knowledge of Western countries’ defences against nuclear attack.

According to the U.S. files, a Libyan detainee, Abu Al-Libi, “has knowledge of Al-Qa’ida possibly possessing a nuclear bomb.” Al-Libi, the operational chief of Al-Qa’ida and a close associate of bin Laden before his detention, allegedly knew the location of a nuclear bomb in Europe that would be detonated if bin Laden was killed or captured.

Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian captured in 2004, allegedly claimed that Al-Libi had said the nuclear bomb’s operatives “would be Europeans of Arab or Asian descent.”

The notes show that U.S. interrogators spent large amounts of time trying to establish whether Al-Qa’ida had access to nuclear material.

Al-Qa’ida apparently also regularly explored the use of chemicals in attacks, believing that getting these into the U.S. would be easier than nuclear material.

The use of biological agents, including anthrax, was also considered. One detainee allegedly claimed that Ammar al-Baluchi, the nephew of Shaikh Mohammed, discussed “how to smuggle explosives and chemicals into England.”

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