June 11, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1423

WASHINGTON, June 10: US Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday said US authorities had captured an Al Qaeda operative and prevented an attack on the United States with a radioactive dirty bomb.

“We have captured a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a radiological dispersion device, or dirty bomb in the United States,” Ashcroft said in a televised announcement from Moscow.

Ashcroft said Abdullah al Muhajir, also known as Jose Padilla, was detained on May 8 after flying into Chicago’s O’Hare airport from Pakistan.

“On apprehending Al Muhajir as he sought entry into the United States, we have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb,” Ashcroft said.

A so-called dirty bomb involves exploding a conventional bomb wrapped in radioactive material that can kill victims in the immediate area and spread highly toxic material to humans, causing mass death and injury.

Ashcroft, in Moscow for meetings with Russian officials, said the US government had “multiple, independent and corroborating sources” that Al Muhajir was closely associated with Al Qaeda and was “involved in planning future terrorist attacks on innocent American civilians in the United States”.

Al Muhajir was being held by the US defence department as an “enemy combatant” despite the fact that he is a United States citizen.—Reuters