Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network is preparing for a new phase of activity, western intelligence officers have told the Financial Times.
Despite the destruction of its presence in Afghanistan, waves of arrests and the targeting of terrorist funds around the world since the September 11th attacks, security services fear al-Qaeda is still successfully recruiting, and seeking new targets.
"There are a lot of these guys out there, and they will pick themselves off the floor and strike again," a senior intelligence official said yesterday.
The official confirmed that reorganisation of al-Qaeda's top leadership was under way, co-ordinated by Abu Zubaydah, a bin Laden deputy known to have escaped from Afghanistan and described by the official as a "very serious player" with an extensive knowledge of al-Qaeda's global network.
Security officials are particularly concerned about al-Qaeda "sleepers" who have been in place since before September 11th, and who may now be planning actions drawing upon logistical support in the UK and mainland Europe.
In the UK, anti-terrorist police are now operating on the assumption that there is a hard core of up to 100 supporters of bin Laden in the UK, any one of whom could be turned to terrorism in the months ahead. - (Financial Times)
AFP adds: Osama bin Laden, his Egyptian lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar "are still alive and safe," an Arabic-language newspaper reported yesterday.
"Taliban leader Mullah Omar, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and the head of the Al-Jihad organization Ayman al-Zawahri, are still alive and safe," Al-Hayat said, quoting Islamic militants based in London.
Mr Yunus Qanooni, the Interior Minister of the new government in Kabul, said recently bin Laden could be in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
Meanwhile, Greek troops arrived in Afghanistan yesterday for the first time since the armies of Alexander the Great 2,300 years ago, Commander Manolas Christos said.
About 50 troops landed at Kabul airport aboard a military transport aircraft, with another 100 expected to arrive in the next few days as part of the International Security Assistance Force.