Investigation: Future Terror Plot Foiled

ByABC News
September 26, 2001, 11:43 PM

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 26 -- An ambitious terrorist plot to attack a host of American interests overseas was foiled by the capture of a key Osama bin Laden operative, sources tell ABCNEWS.

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Intelligence sources in Europe and the United States say the intended targets included the American embassy in Paris, the U.S. consulate in Marseilles, France, buildings at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France.

The outlines of the plan were known to French and American authorities before Sept. 11, but the attacks were not scheduled to take place until much later this year. Authorities had reportedly been watching the suspected terrorist cells for several weeks but moved in quickly after the attacks on New York and suburban Washington.

Sources say the terrorist ring was made up of roughly 50 individuals. Thirty have reportedly been taken into custody in France, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, and 20 are still being sought in a Europe-wide manhunt.

According to intelligence sources, a bin Laden operative was captured this summer in Dubai with a forged French passport. As he was being interrogated by Dubai authorities, Djamel Beghal, an Algerian national, revealed the list of targets and identities of other members of the terrorist ring.