thedrifter
06-11-2002, 05:38 PM
LONDON, England -- Suicide hijackers intended to target London's Big Ben on September 11, according to a British terrorism expert.
A group of al Qaeda operatives were at Heathrow Airport waiting to take over a jet and crash it into the Houses of Parliament, according to author Rohan Gunaratna.
Gunaratna, a research fellow at the Centre for Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University in Scotland, told CNN the attack was thwarted when flights out of London were grounded following the U.S. attacks.
The plan was intended to show the international reach of al Qaeda, he said.
"The attack was thwarted as a result of the attacks in New York and Washington," he said.
"Planes were grounded at Heathrow Airport and the al Qaeda attack team that went to Heathrow could not get into a plane in order to mount this attack," he said.
Complete Story..below..
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/06/11/uk.attacks/index.html
Sempers,
Roger
A group of al Qaeda operatives were at Heathrow Airport waiting to take over a jet and crash it into the Houses of Parliament, according to author Rohan Gunaratna.
Gunaratna, a research fellow at the Centre for Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University in Scotland, told CNN the attack was thwarted when flights out of London were grounded following the U.S. attacks.
The plan was intended to show the international reach of al Qaeda, he said.
"The attack was thwarted as a result of the attacks in New York and Washington," he said.
"Planes were grounded at Heathrow Airport and the al Qaeda attack team that went to Heathrow could not get into a plane in order to mount this attack," he said.
Complete Story..below..
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/06/11/uk.attacks/index.html
Sempers,
Roger