'Qaeda would find 9/11-style strike difficult'

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said that it would be "very difficult" over the next two years for al-Qaida to stage a spectacular terror attack on the scale of the September 11 strikes in 2001.

Obama said that given America's open society, it would always be vulnerable, but argued that as a result of a stepped-up US campaign which had "decimated" al-Qaida's leadership, the country was safer.

`"But for them to be able to mount something that is a big project with a lot of financing, that is very difficult for them to do now," Obama said in an interview.

"They are still dangerous, they are still our number one enemy, we have got to make sure that we don't let up.

"But I think we are in a position over the next couple of years, if we stay on it, it is going to be very difficult for them to mount the kinds of spectacular attacks that we saw on 9/11."

Obama spoke days after a top al-Qaida suspect, US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, was killed in a suspected US drone strike in Yemen, becoming the latest member of the group to die in a volley of intensified US attacks.

Administration officials confided on Friday that at least 23 senior extremist Islamic leadership figures had been killed or captured, in US or allied operations in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere since August 2009.

The most spectacular coup for the campaign was the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a US special forces raid on his hideout inside Pakistan in May.

US citizen planned to blow up Pentagon, Capitol

A US follower of al Qaeda was arrested on Wednesday on charges of planning to fly explosive-packed, remote controlled airplanes into the Pentagon and the US Capitol, authorities said.

Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, was arrested and charged with the aerial bombing plot to attack Washington and attempts to deliver bomb-making materials for use against US troops in Iraq, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in Boston.

"The conduct alleged today shows that Mr Ferdaus had long planned to commit violent acts against our country, including attacks on the Pentagon and our nation's Capitol," Ortiz said.

During the alleged plot, undercover FBI agents posed as al Qaeda-linked accomplices who supplied Ferdaus with one remote-controlled plane, C4 explosives, and small arms that he allegedly envisioned using in a simultaneous ground assault in Washington.

The plan, according to the criminal complaint, was to strike the Pentagon and the Capitol's famous white dome and "decapitate the entire empire. (It will be the) final nail in the coffin”.

However, "the public was never in danger from the explosive devices, which were controlled by undercover FBI employees," the FBI said.

Ferdaus was arrested in Framingham, near Boston, immediately after putting the newly delivered weapons into a storage container, the FBI said.

Authorities described Ferdaus as a physics graduate from Northeastern University who was an enthusiastic fan of al Qaeda and had been committed to "violent jihad" since early last year.

He also apparently possessed a knack for technical work.

Ferdaus is accused of modifying mobile phones for use as electrical switches in bombs to be used against US troops in Iraq.

"That was exactly what I wanted," he is alleged to have said when told -- falsely -- that one of his phones had been part of a bomb that killed three soldiers.

Aided by the FBI undercover team, Ferdaus was also developing far more grandiose plans, according to the authorities.

"Ferdaus stated that he planned to attack the Pentagon using aircraft similar to 'small drone airplanes' filled with explosives and guided by GPS equipment. According to the affidavit, in April 2011, Ferdaus expanded his plan to include an attack on the US Capitol," the FBI said.

The planes were large enough to carry "a variety of payloads (including a lethal payload of explosives), can use a wide range of take-off and landing environments, and fly different flight patterns than commercial airlines, thus reducing detection," according to the criminal complaint filed in court.

In May and June 2011, Ferdaus delivered thumb drives to the undercover team with step-by-step plans for his alleged plot.

This included using three remote-controlled planes and six people who would be armed with Kalashnikovs and grenades.

The plan, according to the FBI, was to use the "aerial assault" to "eliminate key locations”.

The Capitol's dome would be blown "to smithereens”, Ferdaus was quoted in the complaint as saying.

At that point the attackers would herd survivors into a tight corner and "open up on them" and "keep firing”.

"It ought to result in the downfall of this entire disgusting place," Ferdaus is alleged to have said.

Republican lawmaker Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the arrest was a reminder that 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, al Qaeda and its sympathisers "remain committed to attacking the US homeland”.

The New York congressman said it "also underscores the need to continue efforts to combat domestic radicalization and the evolving threat of 'lone wolf' extremists."

Ferdaus made a first court appearance before a federal judge in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Wednesday and was scheduled for a detention hearing on Monday.

If convicted, Ferdaus faces up to 15 years in prison for supporting a foreign terrorist organisation, up to 20 years for attempting to destroy national defence sites, and the same again for attempting to use explosives against buildings owned by the United States.

Pentagon: Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri in Pakistan

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is still in Pakistan, a Pentagon official said Wednesday, following the release of a video in which Osama bin Laden's successor blasts the United States.
   
"We have no information to indicate that he is anywhere else than in Pakistan," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

Zawahiri, a veteran Egyptian militant and long-time al Qaeda number two, took over the jihadist network after bin Laden was killed in a clandestine raid by US Navy commandos in Pakistan on May 2.

Like his slain Saudi-born co-conspirator, Zawahiri has been in hiding since the United States declared a "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and invaded Afghanistan whose Taliban leaders had harbored bin Laden.

Zawahiri -- in the 62-minute video entitled "The Dawn of Imminent Victory," and which featured a speech by bin Laden -- said he was praying this year's Arab Spring would be followed by a "gloomy, bitter-cold American winter."

"The popular revolutions, he stated, are a form of defeat for the United States, just as the 9/11 attacks and its alleged lack of success in Afghanistan and Iraq were also defeats," the US monitoring service SITE said.

Zawahiri was only shown in a still picture in the video, which was released by al Qaeda's media arm, as-Sahab, and posted on jihadist websites on Monday.

The Pentagon said the footage of bin Laden in the video appeared to be the same material found in the US raid on his Pakistan hideout in May, which Washington released but without its soundtrack.

9/11 anniversary: 'Specific, credible terror threat' in US

U.S. officials said Thursday they were investigating a credible but unconfirmed threat that Al Qaeda was planning to use a car bomb to target bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the first tip of an "active plot" around that date.

The Homeland Security Department said the threat is credible and specific but unconfirmed. The nation's terror alert level has not changed, but raising it was under consideration Thursday night.

Law enforcement officials were investigating three people who recently entered the U.S. The threat was received by the U.S. intelligence community late Wednesday night, officials said.

"There is specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information," said Janice Fedarcyk, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York division. "As we always do before important dates like the anniversary of 9/11, we will undoubtedly get more reporting in the coming days."

James McJunkin, the assistant FBI director in the Washington field office, said his agents weren't seeking any particular suspects.

"There's no named individual," he told reporters in a late-night news conference.

Security has been enhanced around the country in the weeks leading up to the 10th anniversary. Law enforcement officials have been wary, particularly after information gleaned from Osama bin Laden's compound in May indicated that Al Qaeda had considered attacking the U.S. on the anniversary and other important dates.

The threat came in a single piece of information and was so specific - and came at such a time of already heightened alert - that it could not be ignored. The officials described the threat to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters that police there were deploying additional resources around the city but that New Yorkers should go about their business as usual. The city's observance of the attacks will go on as planned, Bloomberg said.

The FBI and Homeland Security Department issued a joint intelligence bulletin Thursday night to law enforcement around the country urging them to maintain enhanced security and be on the lookout for suspicious activity.

District of Columbia Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that all police would be working 12-hour shifts indefinitely and that any cars parked in odd locations risked being towed.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the threat information Thursday morning and directed the counterterrorism community to redouble its efforts in response to the information, a White House official said.

White House officials said there were no plans to change Obama's travel schedule on Sunday in light of the threat. The president is scheduled to mark the 9/11 anniversary with stops at New York's ground zero, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa., where one of the hijacked planes crashed. He will also deliver remarks Sunday night at a memorial concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Law enforcement officials are checking out all of the details included in the threat, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

"No need to panic," King said. "They have not been able to confirm it yet."

Thursday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters that there was "a lot of chatter" around the anniversary of the attacks but that there was no information about a specific threat.

Pakistan detains 3 Al Qaeda suspects

Pakistani intelligence officers working with the CIA arrested three members of Al Qaeda including a top operative believed to have been tasked by Osama bin Laden with targeting American economic interests around the world, Pakistan's army said Monday.

Younis al-Mauritani's arrest - made public five days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks - was seen as a blow to Al Qaeda's central leadership in Pakistan, further degrading its ability to mount terrorist attacks abroad. The terrorist organization has seen its senior ranks thinned since Osama bin Laden was killed May 2 along with Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group's No.2, in a CIA missile strike last month.

The public announcement of close cooperation with the CIA appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between U.S. intelligence and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly damaged by the U.S. killing of bin Laden inside Pakistan.

The Pakistani military said the arrests took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when.

The capture of an Al Qaeda operative inside Pakistan has become rare in recent years: most targets of CIA operations in the country have been killed by drone aircraft in a relentless series of operations launched in 2008. His capture is likely to sew chaos within Al Qaeda: even if he does not reveal compromising information, that possibility is almost certain to force the network to alter plans, move operatives and make a variety of other sudden changes damaging its ability to carry out attacks.

"This operation was planned and conducted with technical assistance of United State Intelligence Agencies with whom Inter-Services Intelligence has a strong, historic intelligence relationship. Both Pakistan and United States Intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations," the military said in a written statement.

Al Qaeda's center of operations is believed to be in the lawless tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, many hours from Quetta, a large city that's home to both the Taliban's ruling council and a significant Pakistani military presence.

The statement said al-Mauritani was mainly responsible for Al Qaeda's international operations and was tasked by bin Laden with hitting targets of economic importance in America, Europe and Australia. It said he was planning to target U.S. economic interests including gas and oil pipelines, power generating dams and oil tankers by using explosive-laden speed boats in international waters.

It named the other two detainees as Abdul-Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment. The U.S. has said it doesn't know of any specific Al Qaeda plot to attack the U.S. ahead of Sept. 11.

Since the 2001, attacks, Pakistan's spy agency has cooperated with the CIA to arrest scores of Al Qaeda suspects, most of whom were handed over to the United States.

"This reflects how Pakistan and the United States working together can deal an effective blow to the terrorists," said Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani. He said the intelligence cooperation had been restored almost to levels prior to a series of U.S.-Pakistan diplomatic clashes.

Many top Al Qaeda commanders are still believed to live in Pakistan, and getting Islamabad's cooperation in cracking down on the network has been a top American goal since 2001. But there have been persistent suspicions that the country was protecting militants. The fact that bin Laden was killed in an army town close to the capital, Islamabad, led to fresh doubts over Pakistan's commitment.

Michael Vickers, the Pentagon's under secretary of defense for intelligence, told The New York Times in a recent interview there were perhaps four important Al Qaeda leaders left in Pakistan, and 10 to 20 leaders over all in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.