Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden had identified India and Pakistan as potential targets for terrorist attacks years before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, according to a newly declassified CIA intelligence brief.
The revelation is part of a major release of 71 intelligence reports related to the 9/11 attacks. The documents were made public by the US Central Intelligence Agency on September 11, marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
One of the documents, titled “Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat” and dated August 28, 1998, stated that bin Laden intended to target several countries. The list included Egypt, countries in the Arabian Peninsula such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as India, Pakistan, Uganda and possibly Nigeria.
The 1998 assessment does not provide details of a specific attack planned for India. However, it indicates that US intelligence agencies believed bin Laden’s network was considering India and Pakistan as possible locations for terrorist operations more than three years before the 9/11 attacks.
The CIA brief came shortly after the August 1998 bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The attacks killed 224 people and significantly increased international attention on bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
India itself witnessed a major terror attack in December 2001, just months after the September 11 attacks. On December 13, terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked the Parliament complex in New Delhi. Nine people, including security personnel and a gardener, were killed. All five attackers were also killed.
The newly released CIA records also provide insight into how closely US intelligence agencies were monitoring bin Laden and his network before 9/11. A June 2000 assessment was titled “Pakistan pressing Bin Ladin network”, highlighting concerns surrounding his activities and connections in the region.
Bin Laden later became the focus of a major international manhunt. Intelligence agencies eventually traced one of his couriers to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. US forces killed the al-Qaeda leader during a raid on May 2, 2011.
The CIA documents also include warnings issued before the 9/11 attacks, including an August 6, 2001 intelligence brief titled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US”.
On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes in the United States, killing 2,977 people, excluding the hijackers. Bin Laden, who founded and led al-Qaeda, directed the organisation behind the attacks.
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