Al-Qaeda Working on 'Nuclear 9/11'

Terrorists working on dirty bombs, biological weapons
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 2, 2011 12:22 PM CST
Al-Qaeda Working on 'Nuclear 9/11'
Two shells containing 481.4 grams of enriched uranium powder seized by Slovak Police in east Slovakia are seen in this Nov. 28, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Slovak Police/ho)

Al-Qaeda is actively pursuing the nuclear materials and rogue scientists necessary to make dirty bombs or worse, according to a series of documents released by WikiLeaks and published in the Daily Telegraph. In 2009, NATO security chiefs warned that al-Qaeda was working on “dirty radioactive IEDs,” and a year earlier Indian officials warned America that al-Qaeda has “the technical competence to manufacture an explosive device beyond a mere dirty bomb.”

That year the International Atomic Energy Agency also warned of the danger of a “nuclear 9/11” if more wasn’t done to protect uranium and plutonium supplies. That’s not all there is to worry about either; other security briefings indicate that the terrorists are close to creating “workable and efficient” biological and chemical weapons. Pakistan’s stores of deadly pathogens like anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease are believed to be especially ripe for theft by extremists. (More al-Qaeda stories.)

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