ID :
15791
Wed, 08/13/2008 - 18:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/15791
The shortlink copeid
Pak woman held for Qaeda links had maps of potential targets
New York, Aug 13 (PTI) A Pakistani woman neuroscientist, being held in the US for alleged links to Al-Qaeda, had in her possession maps of potential targets including the Statue of Liberty, Time Square, the subway system and New York city at the time of arrest, a media report said Wednesday.
Aaifa Saddique, 36, who was arrested in Afghanistan and brought here, also had in her possession detailed chemical, biological and radiological weapon information that had been seen only in a handful of terror-related cases as also a thumb drive packed with emails which the intelligence agencies are trying to decipher, ABC News reported quoting officials.
Saddique, a neuroscientist trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, disappeared mysteriously from Karachi five years back and was among the top Al-Qaeda operatives wanted by the American intelligence agencies.
But there is some dissent in the intelligence community on Siddique's potential value and some have characterized her as mentally unbalanced and operationally insignificant, ABC noted.
She was arrested while loitering near the governor's compound in Ghazni in Afghanistan in July this year, five years after she vanished while visiting her parents' house in Karachi and brought here to face terrorism charges.
The haul of information has led multiple government sources to describe Saddique as potential treasure trove of information on terrorist supporters, sympathisers or "sleepers" in the US and overseas, the report said.
"She is a very dangerous person, no doubt about it," a senior US counter terrorism official told the network.
She was examined yesterday by doctors after complaining of pain from the gunshot wounds she sustained when she allegedly struggled with US personnel who had arrived to interrogate her.
US authorities, ABC News said, are analyzing Siddique's saliva, hair, and fingernail scrapings to determine what evidence they can find of any exposure to chemical, biological or radiological materials with potential use in weapons of mass destruction, sources said.
When nabbed by a team of Afghanistan National Police officers on July 17, she also had in her possession a one gigabyte digital media storage device whose contents included a large trail of emails that authorities are now poring over, the network said quoting unidentified sources.
In her papers she had maps and information concerning potential targets in New York City that sources told the network included the subway, Times Square and the Statute of Liberty, besides excerpts from "The Anarchist's Arsenal" and "documents detailing US military assets", according to the federal complaint against her filed July 31st in Manhattan.
ABC News sources said that she also had information indicating the possibility of "an attack" on Plum Island Disease Centre, a secure US government facility where research into animal pathogens is conducted.
However, a terrorist attack on the isolated island would not spread disease, according to homeland security officials familiar with the research activities there.
Saddique has been twice married; once to a nephew of 9-11
mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. She has also been linked to Adnan El Shukrijumah, a pilot and suspected al Qaeda member also on the Ashcroft-Mueller list.
At a federal court hearing in Manhattan on Monday, Siddique appeared in a wheelchair.
Her friends and family have maintained that the young woman, a mother of three, is innocent and being persecuted by the US.
Aaifa Saddique, 36, who was arrested in Afghanistan and brought here, also had in her possession detailed chemical, biological and radiological weapon information that had been seen only in a handful of terror-related cases as also a thumb drive packed with emails which the intelligence agencies are trying to decipher, ABC News reported quoting officials.
Saddique, a neuroscientist trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, disappeared mysteriously from Karachi five years back and was among the top Al-Qaeda operatives wanted by the American intelligence agencies.
But there is some dissent in the intelligence community on Siddique's potential value and some have characterized her as mentally unbalanced and operationally insignificant, ABC noted.
She was arrested while loitering near the governor's compound in Ghazni in Afghanistan in July this year, five years after she vanished while visiting her parents' house in Karachi and brought here to face terrorism charges.
The haul of information has led multiple government sources to describe Saddique as potential treasure trove of information on terrorist supporters, sympathisers or "sleepers" in the US and overseas, the report said.
"She is a very dangerous person, no doubt about it," a senior US counter terrorism official told the network.
She was examined yesterday by doctors after complaining of pain from the gunshot wounds she sustained when she allegedly struggled with US personnel who had arrived to interrogate her.
US authorities, ABC News said, are analyzing Siddique's saliva, hair, and fingernail scrapings to determine what evidence they can find of any exposure to chemical, biological or radiological materials with potential use in weapons of mass destruction, sources said.
When nabbed by a team of Afghanistan National Police officers on July 17, she also had in her possession a one gigabyte digital media storage device whose contents included a large trail of emails that authorities are now poring over, the network said quoting unidentified sources.
In her papers she had maps and information concerning potential targets in New York City that sources told the network included the subway, Times Square and the Statute of Liberty, besides excerpts from "The Anarchist's Arsenal" and "documents detailing US military assets", according to the federal complaint against her filed July 31st in Manhattan.
ABC News sources said that she also had information indicating the possibility of "an attack" on Plum Island Disease Centre, a secure US government facility where research into animal pathogens is conducted.
However, a terrorist attack on the isolated island would not spread disease, according to homeland security officials familiar with the research activities there.
Saddique has been twice married; once to a nephew of 9-11
mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. She has also been linked to Adnan El Shukrijumah, a pilot and suspected al Qaeda member also on the Ashcroft-Mueller list.
At a federal court hearing in Manhattan on Monday, Siddique appeared in a wheelchair.
Her friends and family have maintained that the young woman, a mother of three, is innocent and being persecuted by the US.
