Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 4 Num 296 Mon. March 29, 2004  
   
International


London attack was very much in Laden's mind


Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden instructed his operations chief to target London's main Heathrow airport soon after the September 11 attacks in the United States, The Sunday Times reported.

In a dispatch from Kabul, the British newspaper said it has seen transcripts of the interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the most senior al-Qaeda operative to be captured in the US-led war on terrorism.

Mohammed, 37, who was seized in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in March last year, stated that he met Bin Laden in the Afghan capital Kabul several days after the September 11 attacks.

"It was at this time we discussed the Heathrow operation," he was quoted as saying in the transcript.

"Osama declared Blair our principal enemy and London our target," he said, referring to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.