Author: Alexis Debat and Maddy Sauer
Publication: ABC News
Date: February 12, 2007
URL: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/first_attack_by.html
There was a scare today at a U.S. military
base outside Tokyo when two small explosions occurred shortly after 11 p.m.
there. While no one was injured, investigators are looking at the possibility
that it was an attempted terrorist attack.
Intelligence reports in Japan and Pakistan
suggest al Qaeda has established a small but powerful presence in Japan, which
leads some wondering whether or not today's events are the first attempt at
an attack by al Qaeda in Japan.
Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News
they have had several reports that Pakistani militant organizations working
with al Qaeda had established networks in Japan as far back as 1999.
A Pakistani intelligence source says these
networks were set up following the direct orders of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,
the top al Qaeda leader who is now in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay. Mohammed
reportedly had a "deep interest" in conducting operations inside
Japan.
The source also tells ABC News around two
dozen Pakistanis had been sent to Japan on student visas in the late 1990s
to set up "sleeper cells," and those individuals had linked with
operatives from the leading Indonesian terror group, Jemaah Islamiya.
The source said the mission of the sleeper
cells was to draw up plans for terror attacks and that some of their plans
were seriously considered by top al Qaeda leaders.
One potential plan involved planting several
bombs at and around stadiums during the 2002 World Cup. The plan was never
carried out, but the intelligence source says he believes these networks are
still in place and are still "actively planning operations against U.S.
and Western targets in Japan."
He added, "If these explosions [today]
turn out to have been terrorist attacks, these networks are the first place
to look."
Back in Tokyo, no arrests have been made,
and the investigation is ongoing.
