"Al-Qaeda has dirty bomb, UK says"

So sayeth this:

British officials have presented evidence which they claim shows that al-Qaeda has been trying to assemble radioactive material to build a so-called dirty bomb.
They have shown the BBC previously undisclosed material backing up their claim...

For a second opinion, the BBC showed some of the material to an expert on al-Qaeda.

"I think this is genuine," said Dr Mustafa Alani, of the Royal United Service Institute...

Why the British government would release such top secret information has been questioned by some commentators in the Arabic world.

Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of Al Quds al Arabi, said it was an attempt to revive fears in Britain and the US about 11 September.

"They would like to prove their point that there are links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda," he said.

Iraq isn't mentioned in the article. But, then again neither are, say, Pakistani nuclear scientists.

Terrorism · Thu, 01/30/2003 - 16:53 · · Importance: 1