Terror warning over model planes

Ashcroft warned on Wednesday that al Qaeda still posed a threat

BERLIN, Germany -- Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network may be planning to use model aeroplanes to attack passenger aircraft worldwide, a German security source has warned.

The security source told Reuters news agency the warning had come from Germany's BND intelligence agency, and was based on information from the United States.

The source said the agency had warned that al Qaeda operatives could strike passenger aircraft using model aircraft or small rockets.

"The information came from the United States. It could happen anywhere in the world," the source told Reuters, adding that the threat was being taken seriously despite its unspecific nature.

The FBI warned law enforcement agencies in the United States in May that al Qaeda may possess shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. (Full story)

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft warned on Wednesday that bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network continued to pose a serious threat.

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"We do not believe that al Qaeda maintained camps in which thousands and thousands, perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 people were trained so that they might send 19 or 20 individuals to the United States for one day, albeit a very tragic day, of activity," Ashcroft said at a press conference in Bern, where he was meeting Swiss justice officials.

"We believe there is a continuing threat. We believe it is a serious threat. We believe it is an international threat," Ashcroft said.

The attorney general noted that the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, the subject of a worldwide manhunt, remain a mystery.

"Mr. bin Laden has not been heard from in a long time, and we continue to believe the al Qaeda threat is a real one without his active statements or even his active presence," Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft thanked the Swiss government for its help in the war against terrorism and said it had assisted in the investigation of Jose Padilla, a Brooklyn-born man who the Justice Department alleges is an "al Qaeda operative" who was involved in a plan to build and detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S.

Ashcroft said the apprehension of Padilla, who also goes by the name of Abdullah Al Muhajir, "was made possible by the cooperation and help of Swiss authorities."

Padilla was taken into custody on a material witness warrant at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. He had flown there on a flight from Zurich, Switzerland, after leaving Pakistan.

The U.S. government had faced a Tuesday deadline to press criminal charges against Padilla.

Instead, the Justice Department labelled him an "enemy combatant" and transferred him to the Defense Department, which can hold him indefinitely. (Full story)

Ashcroft also singled out Swiss banks for "their responsible behaviour" in the fight against terrorism. Ashcroft said the banks had acted to dispel the "myth" that they were "incapable of acting to support law enforcement against terrorists."

The United States has worked with other governments to freeze millions of dollars in assets belonging to alleged terrorists and groups that support them.