Osama bin Laden deprived of terrorist #1 status

PanARMENIAN.Net - A terrorist cell in Yemen that tried to mail bombs disguised as printers to the U.S. last year poses the most risk of attacking American cities, a senior administration testified.

The group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has surpassed Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization as being the most likely to pull off attacks inside the United States, Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the House Homeland Security Committee.

The gravest threat is from the al-Qaida affiliate commonly called AQAP, which is led by radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. “I actually consider al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, with Awlaki as a leader within that organization, probably the most significant risk to the U.S. homeland,” Leiter said.

AQAP has said it was responsible for training a Nigerian man who tried to blow up a passenger plane over Detroit on December 25, 2009, and the group claimed responsibility for the failed cargo plane bomb plot last October. The U.S. government also says that Awlaki communicated with Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 military personnel during the November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Leiter said today it appears Awlaki gave Hasan inspiration rather than direction.

Leiter also confirmed that the group known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan trained Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani American charged with trying to detonate a bomb in New York City’s Times Square last year. He added that Lashkar-e-Taiba -- another Pakistan-based Sunni extremist group -- poses a threat to a range of interests in South Asia and could pose a threat of organizing attacks inside the United States, National Journal reported.