Terrorists' trail leads to W. Asia, Europe?

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 29. Intelligence and investigative agencies in the United States are further narrowing down the list of masterminds of the September 11 horror attacks on New York and Washington. And officials believe that while America was the ultimate target, the plot may have been hatched, organised and directed from West Asia and Europe.

``One should not focus on one individual, but focus one's attention on a series of networks across the world'', says the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the briefing on Friday.

The FBI along with the Central Intelligence Agency is trying to recreate the events before the horrific acts so as to get a better and clearer picture of the actors, the masterminds and their sympathisers in the United States and elsewhere.

Intelligence agencies believe that the Algeria-based Armed Islamic Group may have played a major role in the September 11 incidents. The various cells of this terror outfit are closely linked with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda which has emerged as the prime organisation behind the terrorist attacks.

It is said that on request from the United States, British authorities have detained an Algerian pilot who is seen to have been the ``lead instructor'' of some of the hijackers. Lotfi Raissi is said to have made several visits to the United States this summer, in contact with some of the hijackers and flew with one of them from Las Vegas to Arizona this June. Raissi has been in the United States in the 1990s.

Nearly 500 people are in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the investigative agencies are leaving no stone unturned as they get to the bottom of the whole thing.Some three weeks into the tragedy authorities are making the point that unlike in the past,the masterminds did not travel to the United States for fear of being detected.Rather the instructions and the so-called manuals came from a distance.

The Bush administration is determined to keep up the pressure on the terrorists and the network and is making it clear every day that the campaign is for the long term and not confined to one method. The President, Mr. George W. Bush, has been making this point in his now almost daily meeting with foreign leaders or Foreign Ministers dropping by Washington to lend support or show solidarity with the United States.

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Section  : International
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