Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A senior al-Qaida leader in U.S. custody told interrogators of a plot to bomb the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain, officials said Wednesday. The Navy apparently did not take any overt action in response.
Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi, a former al-Qaida training camp commander, spoke of the plot, said two U.S. officials. Authorities, however, aren’t sure if the threat was real.
Bahrain serves as headquarters to the U.S. 5th Fleet and the largest U.S. Navy base in the Persian Gulf. A senior Navy official said he was unaware of any precautionary moves taken in response to the warning.
In recent weeks, al-Libi also told of an imminent plot to use a truck bomb to attack the U.S. Embassy in San’a, Yemen, according to U.S. and Yemeni officials. In response, the embassy closed last week and security was increased. Authorities haven’t verified if the Yemen plot was real.
Al-Libi, a top al-Qaida commander, has been in U.S. custody for at least several weeks, and it wasn’t clear when he spoke of the plot.
He was captured by Pakistan and turned over to U.S. authorities, and is considered the highest-ranking al-Qaida leader known to be in U.S. hands. He is believed to be providing some information to interrogators, but it’s unclear how helpful that information has been.
The Navy facilities at Bahrain would be an inviting target for terrorists seeking to disrupt U.S. military operations in the Middle East. The 5th Fleet has responsibility for the Persian Gulf and provides ships to support the operations of U.S. Central Command, which is running the war effort in Afghanistan.
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