NOVEMBER 25 2001 US targets three more countries JAMES CLARK, NICK FIELDING AND TONY ALLEN-MILLS, WASHINGTON THE war on terrorism is to be extended to three new countries as soon as the campaign in Afghanistan is over.

Targets linked to Osama Bin Laden in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will be at the top of the hit list, according to senior sources in London and Washington.

Tony Blair and President George W Bush have agreed that the momentum created by the anti-terror coalition's successes must be maintained with swift action elsewhere.

"We have the wind at our backs and we don't want to lose it," said a senior Washington source.

Preparations are under way in all three countries.

Intelligence officers from both Britain and America have been on the ground to gather information about terrorists and ascertain their links with Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organisation.

MI6, the British secret intelligence service, has played a leading role. Security sources emphasised their expertise and indicated that "Humint" — intelligence from human sources — was proving critical.

The British and their CIA counterparts have been assembling evidence to be used as the basis for "stiletto" attacks on Bin Laden's associates and terrorist training camps. Military preparations have also begun, though plans to strike specific targets have not yet been finalised.

The first targets, according to British sources, could be hit as early as late January if the war in Afghanistan is nearing its final stages by then.

Yemen, where 17 American sailors died in a suicide bomb attack on the USS Cole at Aden last year, is considered the country most likely to feel Washington's wrath. Al-Qaeda supporters, including many Afghan veterans, have established bases in the northern mountains, where they run training camps.

The targets may include Aden Islamic Army camps identified by eight British fundamentalists who were convicted in Yemen over their part in a terrorist campaign that including the kidnapping and killing of four tourists in 1998.

American officials hope to secure the co-operation of the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who visits Washington this week. In Sudan, where Bin Laden lived until 1996, the Bush administration is expected to pursue followers of Hassan al-Turabi, a former parliamentary speaker now under house arrest. Al-Turabi, whose niece is married to Bin Laden, gave him sanctuary for five years.

Possible targets in Somalia include the Al-Itihaad group, which has been linked to Bin Laden through Muhammad Atef, his deputy, who was killed by an American missile in Afghanistan.

The plans to widen the war emerged as it was disclosed that two British special force soldiers were shot and wounded in the hunt for Bin Laden. SAS and Special Boat Squadron troopers have been involved in skirmishes in several areas, most recently near the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar. The campaign in northern Afghanistan appeared to be reaching its climax yesterday as Arab supporters of Bin Laden prepared for a last stand in Konduz, despite being deserted by hundreds of Taliban fighters who switched sides to join the Northern Alliance laying siege to the city.

Officials believe that extending the campaign to Sudan, Somalia and Yemen will keep Al-Qaeda on the run. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said last night: "We are focused on Afghanistan.

However, this is part of a wider war on terror, wherever that may be, so it should not be a surprise to learn that military planning may be under way in other parts of the world. While we cannot confirm targets, the three countries mentioned have all been linked to terrorist activity."

Copyright 2001

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2001