Al-Qaeda kingpin 'behind plot'

2006-08-13 08:09

London - Security sources believe that one of the suspects in an alleged plot to blow up US-bound airliners is al-Qaeda's leader in Britain, the Sunday Times reported.

In a front-page report, the newspaper said it could not name the suspect - one of 23 who remain in custody after a major police swoop on Thursday - due to legal reasons.

But it said that, in the opinion of officials at MI5, the nation's domestic intelligence agency, he is "the senior figure in a British terror network involving Kashmiri, north African and Iraqi cells".

It is suspected that he was "instrumental" in sending the ringleader of at least one previous British terror plot to a training camp in Pakistan, said the Sunday Times without revealing details of that conspiracy.

The newspaper also revealed concern within the security services that more suspects may be at large, including "at least two" who escaped during raids overnight Wednesday.

But they believe that they have arrested "the ringleaders, the technical experts and the foot soldiers" behind the plot, an unidentified police source was quoted as saying.

The Observer, quoting security sources, said that "up to two dozen" terror investigations were now underway in Britain, and that MI5 "used a mole from within the Muslim community" to infiltrate the alleged airliner plot.

Police suspect that suicide bombers would have been put on board a number of US transatlantic airliners at British airports, armed with electronic detonators and with liquid explosives disguised as harmless drinks.

The News of The World said the security services are "secretly battling another 30 Islamist murder plots" - some single-cell outfits, others "multi-cell groups plotting attacks of incredible complexity".

It also said the "mastermind" in Pakistan of this past week's thwarted alleged plot was Mati Ur Rahman, "a top al-Qaeda figure", and that eight of those arrested in Britain were due to board flights as suicide bombers.

The Mail on Sunday, quoting a government source, said "a dozen terror plots" were under investigation by MI5.

- AFP