Imad killing keeps US on alert
2008-02-17 21:37
Washington - The United States intelligence chief said on Sunday that internal Hezbollah groups or Syria may be to blame for the killing of a Hezbollah commander that has led the FBI to put domestic terror squads on alert in America.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said the US still was reviewing the case following the death of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh in a car bombing in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Hezbollah blamed Israel and has pledged to attack Jewish targets worldwide in retaliation.
That led the FBI last week to be vigilant for possible threats in the US against synagogues and other potential Jewish targets.
McConnell said he considered the threat to be primarily against Israel. But, he said, US intelligence officials were keeping close watch and taking any necessary action to protect the States because Mughniyeh had been "responsible for more deaths of Americans and Israelis than any other terrorist with the exception of Osama bin Laden".
"It is a serious threat," McConnell said. "There's some evidence it may have been internal Hezbollah, it may have been Syria. We don't know yet."
Suicide bomber kills 40
McConnell also expressed hope that Monday's parliamentary elections in Pakistan would help produce a stable, democratic government.
The elections are considered crucial to restoring democracy in Pakistan after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf.
At the weekend, a suicide bomber in Islamabad rammed a car packed with explosives into a crowd after a rally for a candidate allied with the opposition, killing at least 40 people and heightening fears of Islamic militant violence.
Most of the victims appeared to be members of the opposition Pakistan People's Party, formerly led by the assassinated Benazir Bhutto.
"The whole effort in our work with Pakistan, negotiating back and forth, is to see these elections are fair and free, and hopefully put them on a path to democracy," said McConnell.
- AP