U.S. spying on Al Qaeda leader led to foreign post closures
A 2011 image from As Sahab, Al Qaeda’s media division, purports to show Al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri. U.S. intelligence agencies recently intercepted communications in which Zawahiri ordered the head of the terrorist network’s affiliate in Yemen to mount an attack in early August, U.S. and Yemeni officials said.
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration ordered the temporary closure of two dozen diplomatic posts last week after U.S. intelligence agencies secretly intercepted communications in which Ayman Zawahiri, the Al Qaeda leader based in Pakistan, ordered the head of the terrorist network’s affiliate in Yemen to mount an attack in early August, U.S. and Yemeni officials said.
“Zawahiri is trying to micromanage” Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, said a Yemeni official, who did not want to be identified about an intelligence matter. “Because there is nothing left in Pakistan, he is communicating a lot with AQAP.”
Zawahiri ordered Nasser Wuhayshi, who heads the Yemeni group, to orchestrate an attack as soon as this last Sunday, officials said. The intelligence prompted U.S. officials to close embassies, consulates and smaller diplomatic posts across the Middle East and parts of Africa, as well as issue a worldwide travel alert for U.S. citizens.
Officials are not convinced the threat has waned, and the State Department has extended the closure of 19 diplomatic facilities through this week.
“They are trying to figure out now whether Al Qaeda has decided to postpone the attack or has chosen a different target,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has been briefed on the plot as a member of the House intelligence committee. “I don’t think they know with any specificity where or when the attacks may be.”
Schiff said intelligence officials see “more than generalized planning. They believe this is more specific, more credible and more action-oriented than mere aspirations to attack.”
Officials remain deeply concerned about the potential involvement of Ibrahim Hassan Asiri, a Saudi-born bomb maker living in Yemen who has played a role in several high-profile plots in the past. Asiri has built devices designed to evade airport bomb detectors, Schiff said, though there is no specific information that the current plot involves threats to commercial aviation.
“He’s probably our public enemy No. 1,” Schiff said.
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ken.dilanian@latimes.com
@KenDilanianLAT
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