An American national who fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan was reported today to have told investigators al-Qaeda plans to make a biological attack on the US in a matter of days.
Mr John Walker told US officials that "Phase II" of al-Qaeda's war against the US will occur at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which ends Sunday, according to a report in the Washington Times.
Mr Walker, a convert to Islam, who is being held by US Marines at their base near Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, said the second phase would involve biological weapons, according to the paper.
The US blames al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden for the terrorist onslaught on the US on September 11th which left more than 3,000 people dead.
Mr Walker was seized December 1st in Afghanistan after a bloody prison uprising near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. At that time, he gave his name as Mr Abdul Hamid, but has since acknowledged that he is a US citizen who was fighting for the Taliban.
A third phase of the terrorist network's war on the US would, Mr Walker claimed, "result in the destruction of the entire country," according to the Times.
Investigators question the credibility of Mr Walker's claims because of his relatively low-level position with the Taliban, according to the newspaper.
The report was among a series of data that led to the Bush administration issuing a third public warning on December 3rd, after receiving credible but not specific threats of new terrorist attacks, the paper said.
AFP