[Dawn] The Mighty Pak Army on Wednesday dismissed as "very speculative" media reports that this month's upsurge in US dronezaps on beturbanned goons in the country's northwest sought to disrupt attacks on European cities.Sky News on Tuesday reported that hard boyz based in Pakistain were planning simultaneous strikes in London akin to the 2008 Lashkar-e-Taiba assault on Mumbai as well as attacks on cities in France and Germany.
It said a month of strikes by death droid aircraft focused on Pakistain's North Wazoo region, in which more than 100 hard boyz were killed, was intended to disrupt the plot.
Pak military front man Major General Athar Abbas
... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General...
told Rooters: "We don't have any information or intelligence that hard boyz had gathered there (in North Wazoo) and were plotting attacks. There is absolutely no intelligence on that."
Why would they have to "gather/" They're already there.
"Basically it's very speculative," he said of the Sky News report.
"Tut tut. And tut."
"It's a very speculative story. It does not quote any credible source."
US security officials said they could not confirm that a plot had been disrupted. But they said they believed that the threat of a plot or plots remained.
While no senior-ranking hard boyz were reported killed, Pak intelligence officials say a number of others of different nationalities are believed to have died.
On Sept 26, a senior al-Qaeda leader, identified as Sheikh al-Fateh, also known as Sheikh Fateh al-Masri, was believed to have been killed, Pak intelligence officials said.
Just a Numbah Three. Nobody important.
| In being killed he has fulfilled his function. Inform the executive secretary that it's time to send out the standard promotion memo naming the next target. |
There have been 21 strikes carried out by the remotely piloted drones in September, the highest number in a single month.
| The missile manufacturer has clearly been ramping up production to meet the need. |
Not for want of trying, mind you...
US counter-terrorism agencies are poring over intelligence reports suggesting a major attack plot is currently in the works against unspecified targets in Western Europe or possibly the United States, US security officials said.
Four US security officials, who asked for anonymity, said that initial intelligence reports about the threat first surfaced two weeks ago, around the time of the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
British security sources declined to comment on the Sky News report. Britain in January raised its international terrorism threat level to "severe" - the second highest level in the five-tier system. In Germany, the interior ministery said that while Berlin had information on the alleged plots, there were no firm signs of an imminent attack. "The current pointers do not warrant a change in the assessment of the danger level," the ministry said in a statement.
A SERIOUS RISK OF ATTACK
The head of Britain's MI5 Security Service, Jonathan Evans, said on Sept. 16 there remained "a serious risk of a lethal attack taking place".
"As we have repeatedly said, we know al Qaeda wants to attack Europe and the United States. We continue to work closely with our European allies on the threat from international terrorism, including al Qaeda," US intelligence chief James Clapper said in a statement.
One US official said hard boyz in Pakistain were "constantly" planning attacks in the region and beyond, and the United States would react to that.
"It shouldn't surprise anyone that links between plots and those who are orchestrating them lead to decisive American action. The beturbanned goons who are involved are, as everyone should expect, going to be targets. That's the whole point of all of this," the official said.
| "Y'all were upset about a pair of helicopters following your jihadis back home? Let an attack happen within our borders, and just see what follows you home." |