26.04.2011, 14:49 6879

Al-Qa'ida threat to stage nuke hellstorm

Al-Qa'ida has threatened to unleash a "nuclear hellstorm" if its leader Osama bin Laden is captured or killed, according to secret documents released by WikiLeaks yesterday.

Almaty. April 26. Kazakhstan Today - Al-Qa'ida has threatened to unleash a "nuclear hellstorm" if its leader Osama bin Laden is captured or killed, according to secret documents released by WikiLeaks yesterday, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US, claimed under interrogation in Guantanamo Bay that Al-Qa'ida hid a nuclear bomb in Europe to be detonated if Osama bin Laden was ever killed or captured, Herald Sun reported.

Mohammed, the operational commander of Al-Qa'ida warned militants would unleash a "nuclear hellstorm" on the West, according to Wikileaks documents published today by several US and European media outlets including The Washington Post and the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

The files, known as Detainee Assessment Briefs or DABs, contain details of the interrogations of more than 700 Guantanamo inmates, and reveal the background to their capture and the information they provided during interrogations.

However, they do not reveal the methods of interrogation used to obtain information from prisoners, said to include water-boarding and sleep deprivation.

The 15-page-long file on Mohammed, who faces a military tribunal later this year over the 9/11 attacks, revealed that he claimed he was plotting more attacks in America and Britain, as well as in Asia and Africa.

"Detainee had numerous plots and plans for operations targeting the US, its allies, and its interests worldwide," the file said.

Prisoners also claimed that there was a plot to put cyanide in the air-conditioning units of public buildings in the US. The documents also revealed that biological and chemical attacks were being plotted against targets in the UK.

The files confirm that 20 underage youths, including a 14-year-old boy were incarcerated at the military facility while a number of pensioners including an 89-year-old with serious health problems were also held there.

About 220 of the 780 prisoners were assessed to be dangerous international terrorists. A further 380 people were lower-level foot-soldiers, while 150 people turned out to be no more than innocent farmers or drivers.

Photo: BBC News

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