Author: AP
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: November 8, 2002
The State Department has said the
scheduled execution of a Pakistani man in Virginia next week "may trigger
retaliatory attacks against American interests overseas," reports AP.
A "world-wide caution issued by
the department on Wednesday night said US citizens need to be vigilant
and to be aware of the "continuing threat of terrorist actions that may
target civilians."
Mir Aimal Kasi is to be executed
on November 14 for killing two CIA employees and wounding three others
outside CIA Headquarters in January 1993. US authorities snatched Kasi
in July 1997 from a hotel in Pakistan after a four-year man-hunt.
Separately, the FBI issued a bulletin
warning of possible terrorists attacks being carried out during the holy
month of Ramadan, which started yesterday and runs through December 5.
"Al-Qaida and sympathetic Jihadists
may view Ramazan as having religious incentives and symbolic and operational
advantages for conducting terrorist attacks," the bulletin said.
The FBI also cited unspecified intelligence indicating Al-Qaida may be
planning a strike this Ramazan.
Some lower-level al-Qaida operatives
may be more likely to time attacks to symbolic dates and events, the FBI
said, citing recent attacks in Yemen, Kuwait, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The State Department bulletin said
the potential exist for retaliatory acts against US or other foreign interests
in response to the execution."
It also reiterated warning contained
in similar statements issued in recent months urging Americans to take
precautionary measures.
