Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network may have made greater strides than previously thought toward obtaining plans or materials to make a crude radiological weapon that would use conventional explosives to spread radioactivity over a wide area, according to US and foreign sources. Some of the conclusions come from interrogations of captured Al Qaeda members or associates. Some come from evidence gathered in the last month on the ground in Afghanistan by CIA officers and us special forces from former Al Qaeda facilities, US intelligence agencies have said.
In addition, recent US intelligence reports describe a meeting within the last year in which Bin Laden was present when one of his associates produced a canister that allegedly contained radioactive material. The associate waved the canister in the air as proof of Al Qaeda's progress and seriousness in trying to build a nuclear device. The US government last month urgently asked a few key allied governments to assist in determining whether that associate of Bin Laden may have entered their countries, perhaps with radioactive material.
The concern is sufficiently deep that some countries have adopted extreme security procedures at their borders, including the increased use of devices that measure radioactivity, the sources were quoted as saying by the 'Washington Post'.
There is no conclusive evidence that bin Laden or his associates have built a radiological bomb or even have the capability to do so, these sources emphasised. But for years bin Laden has said publicly he was working to obtain a nuclear capability, the newspaper said.
Bureau Report