WikiLeaks: Al-Qaeda Could Unleash ‘Nuclear 9/11′

WikiLeaks: Al-Qaeda Could Unleash ‘Nuclear 9/11′: "

According to reports from the UK’s Daily Telegraph and Vancouver Sun,
a number of leaked diplomatic cables warn that the terrorist group
Al-Qaeda may be on the verge of producing nuclear weapons after securing
radioactive materials and rogue scientists to help carry out their
deadly mission.

From documents released by WikiLeaks, a “leading atomic regulator”
has warned that “the world stands on the brink of a ‘nuclear 9/11,’” the
Sun reports.

Security briefings suggest that jihadi groups are also
close to producing “workable and efficient” biological and chemical
weapons that could kill thousands if unleashed in attacks on the West.
Thousands of classified American cables obtained by the WikiLeaks
website and passed to The Daily Telegraph detail the international
struggle to stop the spread of weapons-grade nuclear, chemical and
biological material around the globe.

At a Nato meeting in January 2009, security chiefs
briefed member states that al-Qaida was plotting a program of “dirty
radioactive IEDs”, makeshift nuclear roadside bombs that could be used
against British troops in Afghanistan. As well as causing a large
explosion, a “dirty bomb” attack would contaminate the area for many
years.

The briefings also state that al-Qaida documents found in
Afghanistan in 2007 revealed that “greater advances” had been made in
bioterrorism than was previously realized. An Indian national security
adviser told American security personnel in June 2008 that terrorists
had made a “manifest attempt to get fissile material” and “have the
technical competence to manufacture an explosive device beyond a mere
dirty bomb”

Alerts about the smuggling of nuclear material, sent to
Washington from foreign U.S. embassies, document how criminal and
terrorist gangs were trafficking large amounts of highly radioactive
material across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The alerts explain
how customs guards at remote border crossings used radiation alarms to
identify and seize cargoes of uranium and plutonium.

The cables also suggest that radioactive materials stolen from
Chernobyl have been offered for sale on the black market in Lisbon,
Portugal.

Tomihiro Taniguchi, the deputy director general of the
IAEA, has privately warned America that the world faces the threat of a
“nuclear 9/11″ if stores of uranium and plutonium were not secured
against terrorists.

But diplomats visiting the IAEA’s Austrian headquarters
in April 2008 said that there was “no way to provide perimeter security”
to its own laboratory because it has windows that leave it vulnerable
to break-ins.

Senior British defence officials have raised “deep
concerns” that a rogue scientist in the Pakistani nuclear program “could
gradually smuggle enough material out to make a weapon”, according to a
document detailing official talks in London in February 2009.

In addition, the cables also warn of deadly biological pathogens
located in Pakistan that may be vulnerable to falling into the wrong
hands. Some of these potential weaponized strains include anthrax and
avian flu which could easily be dispersed in crowded areas.

Security of the same types of biological weapons located in the
United States and Russia may also be susceptible to security breaches.
According to the leaked cables, “a growing chorus of voices” at the
World Health Assembly have warned of the risk.

"