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RESPONSES TO AL QAEDA'S INITIAL ASSAULTS
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an operation in the US on behalf of Bin Ladin, but that the operation
was on hold.A senior Bin Ladin operative from Saudi Arabia was to visit
IG counterparts in the US soon thereafter to discuss options--perhaps
including an aircraft hijacking.
· IG leader Islambuli in late September was planning to hijack a
US airliner during the "next couple of weeks" to free `Abd al-
Rahman and the other prisoners, according to what may be a
different source.
· The same source late last month said that Bin Ladin might
implement plans to hijack US aircraft before the beginning of
Ramadan on 20 December and that two members of the oper-
ational team had evaded security checks during a recent trial
run at an unidentified New York airport. [--]
2. Some members of the Bin Ladin network have received hijack train-
ing, according to various sources, but no group directly tied to Bin Ladin's
al-Qa'ida organization has ever carried out an aircraft hijacking. Bin Ladin
could be weighing other types of operations against US aircraft.Accord-
ing to [--] the IG in October obtained SA-7 missiles and intended to
move them from Yemen into Saudi Arabia to shoot down an Egyptian
plane or, if unsuccessful, a US military or civilian aircraft.
· A [--] in October told us that unspecified "extremist elements"
in Yemen had acquired SA-7s. [--]
3. [--] indicate the Bin Ladin organization or its allies are moving closer
to implementing anti-US attacks at unspecified locations, but we do not
know whether they are related to attacks on aircraft. A Bin Ladin asso-
ciate in Sudan late last month told a colleague in Kandahar that he had
shipped a group of containers to Afghanistan. Bin Ladin associates also
talked about the movement of containers to Afghanistan before the East
Africa bombings.
· In other [--] Bin Ladin associates last month discussed picking
up a package in Malaysia. One told his colleague in Malaysia
that "they" were in the "ninth month [of pregnancy]."
· An alleged Bin Ladin supporter in Yemen late last month
remarked to his mother that he planned to work in "com-
merce" from abroad and said his impending "marriage," which
would take place soon, would be a "surprise.""Commerce" and
"marriage" often are codewords for terrorist attacks. [--]
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