In order to stop the al-Qaeda chief in his race to don the crusader cap for the muslims worldwide, the US senate voted 87-1 raising the reward for the fugitive Bin Laden to$50 million which is double the amount previously set.
The vote comes at a time when al-Qaeda is believed to have regrouped in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region including appending agents into U.S.
Intelligence officials believe that al-Qaeda is at its strongest best post-9/11 and poses a direct threat to UK.
“It has been six years, and al-Qaeda is now rebuilding its terrorist training camps,” said Senator Byron Dorgan.
The Congress was told on Wednesday by the intelligence analyst that al-Qaeda had been successful in creating a safe haven in remote parts of Pakistan.
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff s echoed the sentiments when he disclosed about his ‘gut feeling’ that the U.S. would be more vulnerable to attacks over the next few weeks.
“There is a perception in the coverage that al-Qaeda may be as strong today as they were prior to September 11th,” he said on Thursday.
“That’s simply not the case.”
While the elusive Bin Laden has not been seen for almost a year now, his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri has been releasing a plethora of messages on Islamic websites, the very recent one being hurled at Pakistanis asking them to rise against President Pervez Musharraf in retaliation for the bloody storming of the militant Red Mosque in Islamabad.
Image:september11news
Via:BBC
