Osama Bin Laden eyed India for terror attacks before 9/11, CIA documents reveal
The information has emerged as part of a major release of declassified CIA presidential briefing documents ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
PTC News Desk: Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was considering carrying out terrorist attacks in India years before the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, according to a declassified CIA intelligence brief from 1998.
The information has emerged as part of a major release of declassified CIA presidential briefing documents ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The CIA has released more than 100 pages of intelligence material from briefings prepared for former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
A presidential daily brief dated August 28, 1998, titled “Bin Laden terrorist network still a threat,” listed India among several countries where bin Laden was planning attacks.
The brief said bin Laden intended to carry out attacks in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, particularly Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as India, Pakistan, Uganda and possibly Nigeria.
However, the document does not mention any specific target in India, a planned date or details of an attack. The source of the intelligence has also been redacted.
Al-Qaida network spread across 60 countries
According to the CIA assessment, bin Laden could rely on a network of individuals and allied groups operating in at least 60 countries.
He was also exploring options for further attacks against the US and the UK, although no specific targets or timelines had been identified at the time.
The document noted that US officials had helped arrest bin Laden operatives who were allegedly preparing attacks in Tirana and possibly Baku.
The CIA also said that al-Qaida's established network in North America, Europe and East Asia added credibility to reports that the group could target US interests in those regions.
The brief stated that bin Laden and other terrorist leaders based in Afghanistan had survived US missile strikes and that their communications network remained operational. Training had also resumed at some camps, while others were being relocated.
The intelligence brief was issued shortly after the US carried out missile strikes against suspected al-Qaida targets in Afghanistan and Sudan in August 1998.
The strikes followed the bombings of two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.