U.S. officials: Bin Laden seeks 'foothold' in Israel

Osama bin Laden

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials said Monday there is evidence suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden's group is trying to "gain a foothold" in Israel and the Palestinian-controlled territories.

The U.S. officials, who wished to remain anonymous, told CNN "there are indications" that the Al Quaida group headed by bin Laden "is interested in expanding its operations" into Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

"They are trying to set up their own network," said one U.S. official, "separate from Hezbollah or any of the other groups" that have committed terrorism against Israel in the past. Hezbollah is an Islamic fundamentalist group with a long history of attacks on Israeli targets.

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The report matches similar comments made in Jerusalem by a top Israeli official. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Reuters that bin Laden was "trying very hard to penetrate into the country."

The news comes on the same day that a reporter for the Saudi Middle East Broadcasting Corp.(MBC) told CNN that, according to bin Laden aides, strikes would be carried out against U.S. and Israeli interests within two to three weeks.

MBC reporter Bakr Atyani, who talked with CNN in Islamabad, Pakistan, said he met with bin Laden and aides at an undisclosed location three hours from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Thursday.

A Washington analyst on the Mideast, Daniel Benjamin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told CNN that bin Laden and his aides may have been simply trying to rally their supporters when they spoke to Atyani.

But Benjamin also said there is reason to take the threat "quite seriously" because "there is indication that bin Laden and his associates are interested in getting involved in" the Palestinian Intifada in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Bin Laden has been indicted by the United States for allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that together killed 224 people. U.S. authorities also suspect bin Laden was behind a suicide bombing of the Navy destroyer USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. servicemen and women and injured 39 in the attack on October 12, 2000.

On Saturday, U.S. troops in the Middle East were put on high alert status in response to a "nonspecific but credible threat" from bin Laden's group, sources told CNN. There has been no information that the high-alert status is linked to the reporter's allegations.

Officials told CNN that the threat prompting the alert was directed against U.S. citizens and interests around the world, rather than specifically against the U.S. military or potential targets in the Persian Gulf region.

Bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire, is believed to be taking refuge in Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban movement has refused to turn him over to Western powers.

MBC's Atyani said that although bin Laden himself made no statements regarding impending attacks, he smiled as if expressing agreement at statements from his aides, who would not give their names. Although Atyani videotaped portions of the meeting, he said he was unable to capture this part of it on camera.

Taliban sources in Kandahar told CNN that a key aide to bin Laden, Abu Hafz, denied that any meeting took place. In the video, Atyani can be seen sitting with bin Laden. Atyani said he was forced later to mute that part of the video.

But in statements carried by a Taliban-run news agency, Hafz said that while a meeting with Atyani did take place, bin Laden's aides made no statements regarding impending strikes.

Monday is the fifth anniversary of the bombing of the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia. That attack killed 19 U.S. airmen and injured hundreds of others. On Thursday, the United States announced indictments against 14 suspects in the June 25, 1996, bombing.

Thirteen Saudis and one Lebanese citizen are accused of bombing the military housing complex.

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor contributed to this report.