US Official: Al Qaeda Operatives Said Planned Attack ‘Going to be Big’
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaida affiliate, a senior U.S. official provided new details on Sunday about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaida operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack.
The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is “going to be big” and “strategically significant.”
“The part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty,” the official said, adding that the group — Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — appeared to have a media plan for after the attack.
Authorities do not know the exact target of the planned attack, according to the official.
“We do not know whether they mean an embassy, an airbase, an aircraft, trains,” the official said.
The official said there is concern about devices that could be implanted inside the body of a terrorist.
“We are concerned about surgically implanted devices,” said. “These are guys who have developed the techniques to defeat our detection methods.”
The official also said authorities were stunned that the group broke “operational security” — meaning they talked likely knowing it would be picked up by intercepts.
ABC News reported Thursday that embassies across the Middle East and North Africa – including those in Egypt, Iraq and Kuwait – would close today because of “a specific threat against a U.S. embassy or consulate.”
The next day, the State Department issued a global travel warning to all U.S. citizens around the world, alerting them to the “continued potential for terrorist attacks.”
During an interview for This Week, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told Martha Raddatz that there is “a significant threat stream and we’re reacting to it.”
Sunday afternoon the State Department announced that posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali, and Port Louis will be closed from August 5 through August 10.
Posts in Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah, and Erbil are authorized to reopen for normal operations on August 5.
The State Department said, “this is not an indication of a new threat stream, merely an indication of our commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect our employees including local employees and visitors to our facilities.”
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