India was on target of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, reveals CIA documents
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "India was on target of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, reveals CIA documents")
Former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
The document further says that Bin Laden had survived US missile strikes in Afghanistan and was gearing to mount attacks on US and other places with its active network of individuals.
On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Centre in New York City in 2001, US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released more than 70 presidential intelligence briefs linked to bin Laden. In the documents released on Friday it has come to light that Indian was among the list of countries that former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had once considered to attack.
The presidential brief dated August 28, 1998, states that India, including countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Uganda were on Osama's list to carry out attacks. Though, not much details were revealed about the nature of attack he had planned or anything like that.
Titled "Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat", the document does not reveal a specific Indian target, an attack date, or a precise operational plan. The source of information too is not mentioned.
"Bin Ladin's well-established infrastructure in North America, Europe, and East Asia lends credibility to reports that he also will target US interests in these regions," the document says.
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The document further says that Bin Laden had survived US missile strikes in Afghanistan and was gearing to mount attacks on US and other places with its active network of individuals and allied groups across at least 60 countries.
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Bin Laden viewed India as a “Crusader-Zionist-Hindu” conspiring against the Islamic world. It was the same ideological lens through which it viewed US and Israel.
The documents also revealed that Bin Laden was considering attacks against the US and UK hours before the US missile strikes on al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, although no precise targets or timing of his plan was revealed.
The intelligence briefs released by the CIA demonstrates that US presidents holding office from 1998 to 2001 had knowledge of possible terrorist attacks on US soil
