Specter surfaces of world of local Qaeda offshoots
The attacks in London yesterday appear to be the work of an Al Qaeda offshoot, and could provide further evidence that the organization responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks is steadily morphing into a collection of largely independent groups, US intelligence officials and specialists on terrorism said. Even with much of the Al Qaeda leadership either dead or captured, these new affiliates can continue a holy war against the West with relatively low-tech but deadly attacks such as yesterday’s subway and bus bombings. The attacks in London, which killed at least 37 people and wounded 700, displayed the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda-type operation, US intelligence officials said. But the relative simplicity of the attacks suggests that they were not carried out under the direct orders of bin Laden or his deputies, according to the officials, but by a group operating on its own. Full Story