Heathrow 'attack' foiled

2006-06-21 19:45

Washington - Al-Qaeda planned to hijack a plane from London's Heathrow Airport in 2003 and smash it into a London skyscraper, a US television network reported on Wednesday, quoting an American government report.

The London attack was one of three al-Qaeda hijack plots foiled, with Australia, the United States and Italy also targets of Osama bin Laden's group, according to the department of homeland security report cited by ABC television's website.

The hijackers in the London attack had planned to use cameras to hide bombs and take on stun guns disguised as flash attachments, highlighting al-Qaeda's search for innovative new ways to strike.

The report said al-Qaeda had planned to hijack planes taking off from Heathrow and smash them into the airport and a skyscraper in the Canary Wharf financial district of the British capital.

It did not say how the plot was foiled.

Nine plots

Al-Qaeda had also planned in May 2003 to fly "an explosive-laden general aviation aircraft into the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan", said the report.

ABC did not give details of the planned attacks in Australia, Italy or the United States, but it said the US report had concluded there were nine similar plots since the September 11 2001 attacks, "demonstrating a continued commitment to attack aviation-related targets".

The United States has imposed stringent airport security since the September 11 strikes, when al-Qaeda flew hijacked jets into targets in New York and Washington, killing almost 3 000 people.

The report, a strategic assessment on US aviation, said that despite the security improvements, the "DHS continues to receive information on terrorist threats to the US aviation industry and to the Western aviation industry worldwide".

Ingenuity

ABC quoted homeland security officials as saying the attacks were an example of al-Qaeda adapting "to increased aviation security by shifting planned suicide hijackings from domestic carriers to international flights ... to take advantage of perceived less-effective security screening at some foreign airports".

Al-Qaeda's "ingenuity was evident" in its attempts to convert camera equipment and other non-threatening items into weapons, the officials were quoted as saying.

- AFP