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Al-Qaeda Claims to Have “Suitcase” Nuclear Weapons
Al-Qaeda claims to have obtained nuclear weapons in Central Asia, according to a Pakistani journalist who has written a biography of the terrorist organization’s second-highest ranking official, Ayman al-Zawahri, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 24). In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. set to be broadcast today, Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir said al-Zawahri claimed that “smart briefcase bombs” were available for purchase on the international black market. According to Mir, al-Zawahri said, “If you have $30 million, go to the black market in central Asia, contact any disgruntled Soviet scientist, and a lot of ... smart briefcase bombs are available.” “They have contacted us, we sent our people to Moscow, to Tashkent, to other central Asian states and they negotiated, and we purchased some suitcase bombs,” Mir quoted al-Zawahri as saying (Associated Press/London Guardian, March 21). It is unlikely, but not impossible, that al-Qaeda has obtained a nuclear weapon, security experts said in a Reuters article. More probable is that the organization would develop a “dirty bomb” that would spread radioactive material over a limited area (Reuters/Yahoo!News, March 21).
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