Al Qaida has claimed that it has acquired nuclear weapons.
But Western intelligence sources still doubt the veracity of that claim.
| So do we. For the same reasons? |
Islamic sources said Al Qaida procured tactical nuclear weapons in 1998 from Ukrainian scientists. The sources said the weapons came in suitcases and were delivered by the scientists when they visited the Afghan city of Kandahar. The sources, who spoke to such Arab media as the London-based Al Hayat and Qatar's Al-Jazeera television, said Al Qaida could use the weapons inside the United States or against U.S. targets in other regions. Such an attack, they said, would be launched if Al Qaida was threatened with elimination.
| The result would be their total elimination, to include the places they came from... |
The U.S. intelligence community has long suspected that Al Qaida has obtained components of nuclear or radiological weapons. Evidence of nonconventional weapons were found in Afghanistan in wake of the U.S. invasion in October 2001. |