Air Attack on U.S. Consulate Foiled

U.S. and Pakistani authorities have broken up an al Qaeda plan to fly an explosives-laden aircraft into the U.S. consulate in Karachi, a suicide plot reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that shows the weakened terrorist network is still capable of pursuing serious assaults, officials said yesterday. The plan was foiled by the arrests earlier this week in Karachi of six suspected al Qaeda members, including two who had roles in the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, U.S. intelligence officials said. The arrests led to the discovery of hundreds of pounds of high explosives, as well as grenades, assault rifles and detonators hidden in several different caches, Pakistani and U.S. officials say. The details of the aerial assault plan, which was nearing fruition, came from the suspects themselves during interrogations by the Pakistani intelligence service, two U.S. officials said. One Bush administration official said the group had not yet obtained an airplane, but believed they were close to gaining access to one. The information prompted an urgent analysis and warning from the new Terrorist Threat Integration Center, an intelligence clearinghouse run by the CIA, sources said. The Department of Homeland Security, in turn, privately issued an advisory about the plot on Thursday to pilots and airports in the United States. Full Story