'Airline' Plotters Trained In FATA

By Paul Cruickshank

Last night NBC aired a one hour documentary on the 2006 'Airline Plot', widely regarded as Al Qaeda's most ambitious plot since 9/11.

Following on from the documentary, Richard Greenberg and Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC and myself have just published this in-depth report on the genesis of the plot and the unprecedented international investigation that thwarted it.

The article is part of a special web extra section on the plot on the MSNBC website, which includes a video profile of a former jihadist recruit, who knew several of the alleged airline plotters, and now works to combat Al Qaeda's recruiting efforts in east London.

The article contains new information on Al Qaeda's alleged role in the 'airline' plot and new detail on the links between the 'airline plot' ringleaders and the leaders of several other Al Qaeda-linked terrorist conspiracies in the UK.

A senior Bush administration official and two U.S. intelligence officials told Dateline that intelligence shows that some of the men convicted in this case - though the officials did not identify them by name - traveled to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, widely believed to be home to al-Qaida’s leaders, where they received explosives training “from al-Qaida specialists.”

The revelation comes at a time when there is mounting concern in Western capitals over Al Qaeda's safe-haven in the tribal areas of north-western Pakistan. It is widely recognized that Al Qaeda's foothold along this part of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has grown stronger since the 2006 'Airline plot' was broken up.

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