Osama bin Laden’s strike plans after World Trade Centre attack revealed

WASHINGTON: To destroy twin skyscrapers using passenger flights, what Al-Qaeda implemented in the US in 2001, was something that was unheard of even in computer games. When the whole world was shocked to witness the tragic 9/11 terror attack that killed more than 3,000 people, the US arrived in Afghanistan to find the culprits. However, the US was able to assassinate Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, a global terrorist, only after searching for several years. If the US had not made such a move, then the world would have suffered a lot more. Now, further details of Laden’s second strike plans have been revealed.

Osama bin Laden, had planned several terror attacks in the US following the twin tower attack. Documents obtained after the former Al-Qaeda chief was killed by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan in 2011 have revealed that he wanted to launch another attack using similar methods to those employed on 9/11, but using private jets instead of passenger planes. The details surfaced as Nelly Lahoud, an Al-Qaeda researcher, examined thousands of Laden's personal letters and notes taken by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan, 11 years ago. He had planned to strike strategic locations and massacre Americans. He also urged his followers to cut 12 metres off the US railroad to derail trains and kill hundreds of people. Information about the plan had surfaced earlier as well.

However, the US is the reason for the failure of these plans. Bin Laden was startled by the way the US conducted its attacks in Afghanistan, following 9/11. It never occurred to the terrorists that the US will enter into another country and launch such robust attacks. Following the incident, Osama did not communicate with his associates for three year, said the documents.

In addition to the US, Laden had also planned attacks in the Middle East and Africa, targeting crude oil tankers and significant transportation routes. He had even asked his subordinates to find certain boats that could evade radar. After Osama bin Laden's killing, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama's second-in-command, took over the charge of Al-Qaeda.