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'Sleeper cells' of Al Qaeda are the next target

With the military campaign in Afghanistan in its final stages, the Bush administration has increased its focus on uncovering and eliminating Al Qaeda "sleeper cells."

The administration is concentrating for now on what it sees as a serious, ongoing threat posed by Al Qaeda in the United States and some other countries.

"There are Al Qaeda cells sitting out there -- some in the United States, some in other countries, some in countries with a long history" of harbouring terrorist groups, a senior White House official said.

"We have to assume that since there were cells prior to September 11 buried in the United States for some time, there might be others. This is the most dangerous fact for American security right now," the Washington Post reported quoting administration officials.

Cooperation regarding international intelligence, law enforcement, diplomacy and the military is a crucial factor in uncovering cells, the small, self-contained terrorist operational units that the administration has said exist in as many as 60 countries.

"The good news is that, for the first time, we have a real, international intelligence network," the White House official said.

The United States has offered assistance to countries in which the terrorist organisation is known to operate. In Pakistan, which has already received the promise of $ 1 billion in economic and military aid, the FBI launched a training programme on Friday to help immigration officers detect suspected terrorists at Pakistani airports.

Last week in Washington, US President George W Bush told Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar that he would send CIA and FBI officials to Spain, where a number of alleged Al Qaeda operatives have been arrested.

US officials denied reports that the Pentagon had encouraged Ethiopian troops to intervene in a skirmish in a remote corner of Somalia.

But Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld noted that Al Qaeda cells have been reported in Somalia and Yemen. Allied naval vessels -- from Germany, France and elsewhere -- have joined US ships around the Arabian peninsula, patrolling possible Al Qaeda escape routes from Afghanistan.

PTI

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