New terror details 'years old'

WASHINGTON - Much of the information obtained by al Qaeda that led the United States to raise terror alerts in Washington and New York is at least three years old, and US officials are unsure if the group's surveillance continues, according to published reports yesterday.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported yesterday that officials were still analysing documents seized last month after a raid in Pakistan that showed al Qaeda surveillance of specific US targets.

Documents, computers, surveillance reports and sketches were recovered related to the capture of suspected al Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, also known as Abu Talha, last month, officials said.

Much of the information that resulted from the arrest was compiled before the September 11 attacks, the New York Times reported, citing intelligence and law enforcement officials.

Federal authorities said they were unsure if al Qaeda's surveillance continued, the newspapers reported.

"You could say that the bulk of this information is old, but we know that al Qaeda collects, collects, collects until they're comfortable," a senior Government official was quoted in the Times as saying.

"Only then do they carry out an operation. And there are signs that some of this may have been updated or may be more recent."

The Post cited officials as saying much of the information al Qaeda gathered on buildings in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey, was obtained through the internet or other "open sources" available to the general public, including floor plans.

"What we've uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the launching of an attack," said a senior American official quoted by the Post.

US officials have previously warned of possible attacks before the presidential election in November. The latest warnings were of al Qaeda threats to attack symbols of US financial might such as the New York Stock Exchange, World Bank and International Monetary Fund, among other targets in the New York area and Washington.

* Pakistan says it has arrested several people connected to an al Qaeda suspect in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa and a computer engineer who are reported to have yielded the information that led to the US alerts.

- REUTERS