British officials have presented evidence which they claim shows that al-Qaeda had been trying to assemble radioactive material to build a so-called dirty bomb. They have shown the BBC previously undisclosed material backing up their claim. It includes secret intelligence from agents sent by Britain into al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Posing as recruits, they blended in and reported back. They revealed that Osama Bin Laden’s weapons programme was further on than anyone thought. British officials said on Thursday Bin Laden now had gained the expertise and possibly the materials to build a crude radioactive bomb. The government says evidence suggests that by 1999, Bin Laden’s priority was to develop a weapon of mass destruction. He had acquired radioactive isotopes from the Taleban to do this, officials said, adding that development work on the “dirty bomb” had been going on in a nuclear laboratory in the Afghan city of Herat. Full Story
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