28 MAY: 12 MILLION WOULD DIE ON FIRST DAY OF INDIA-PAKISTAN WAR - CIA

An intelligence assessment produced by the US Department of Defense and the CIA, says that a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India would result in 12 million deaths within six hours. And this does not include several million other people who would be suffer radiation sickness.

Secret intelligence reports suggest Pakistan could have double the number of nuclear warheads than first thought, matching India’s 125.

28 MAY: MOHAMED ATTA STOOD AT BASE OF WTC ON 10 SEPTEMBER

Intelligence sources in America say that documents and receipts discovered by the FBI place Mohamed Atta, lead member of the 11 September hijack gang, at the foot of the WTC just hours before the attack, where in all probability he entered the building location in global positioning system. This information supports intelligence received by Eye Spy that several of the hijackers stayed in hotels within a few hundred feet of the towers.

Full story in EYE SPY 10

26 MAY: PENTAGON SAYS NO RIFT OVER BUSH IRAQ ATTACK PLANS

Officials at the Pentagon have said they will be able to support “any action that the President deems necessary to safeguard the security of the United States.” Earlier, intelligence leaks suggested that a major internal rift had occurred and that President Bush’s plans to topple Saddam Hussein were not being supported by the military.

The cracks developed when General Tommy Franks of US Central Command said a war involving 200,000 US troops might force Saddam into a corner where he would unleash chemical and biological weapons. This follows MI6 reports indicating Saddam’s nuclear and biological weapons’ programmes are being hastened. The CIA and MI6 believe Baghdad may be just three years away from building a crude nuclear device. Such intelligence is being used by the White House to gather support for the invasion.

• See Eye Spy Nine for further information on Iraqi defectors claim to MI6

25 MAY: CIA WARM PAKISTAN AND INDIA OVER CONSEQUENCES

Officials from the CIA have warned Pakistan and India over the consequences of a nuclear war. Some 1.5m troops from either side face each other over the disputed Kashmiri area. Eye Spy has learned that Pakistan has moved several mobile nuclear missile conveys close to the border with India. MI6 has warned Downing Street that a nuclear strike is possible - though remote. Eye Spy understands high-level talks are underway.

22 MAY: AL-QAIDA TARGET STATUE OF LIBERTY AND BROOKLYN BRIDGE

The FBI has issued an ‘obscure’ warning that intelligence suggests the al-Qaida network is planning to blow up the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Manhattan with Brooklyn, New York City. It is known that a number of al-Qaida suspects reside or did reside in nearby New Jersey, though the warning was made from information acquired from al-Qaida signals and phone calls intercepted by the FBI.

22 MAY: AMERICA IDENTIFIES IRAN AS KEY TERROR NATION

An intelligence report circulating around Washington has identified Iran as a huge and major player in the sponsorship of global terrorism. The new report could indicate a shift in policy towards Iraq. Eye Spy learned that efforts by MI6 and the CIA to discover the whereabouts of the construction of a nuclear device have been underway for at least three years. It is understand a Top Secret CIA report contains astonishing information about Iran’s nuclear capability.

• Iraq may now also show flexibility towards UN weapons’ inspectors if the USA targets Iran. Eye Spy understands that it is likely covert talks have taken place between the West and Baghdad.

21 MAY: THE ANTHRAX SITUATION - ALARMING SCENARIO

Some officials in the British Government are allegedly nervous about recent findings inthe USA concerning the anthrax-laced letters and packages which killed five persons last year on the eastern seaboard of America. An al-Qaida cell reportedly based in New Jersey was first suspected, but information suggests that one US scientist, Professor Don Wiley may have been killed by the US Government to protect an on-going project. Mr Wiley allegedly committed suicide on 15 November last year, around the last time an anthrax letter was received. The anthrax almost certainly originated from a US facility identified and named in Eye Spy 9.

Full Story on Professor Wiley Eye Spy 10

20 MAY: US SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER SHOT DEAD IN AFGHANISTAN

The Pentagon has announced that an American special forces soldier has been shot dead in eastern Afghanistan.

"The firefight started when enemy forces engaged the patrol on Sunday," Lieutenant Colonel Michael Humm told the Reuters news agency.

20 MAY: PRESIDENT BUSH DID NOT KNOW OF 11 SEPTEMBER ATTACK PLANS

Senior intelligence officials have come to the aid of President Bush in respect of his statement of “prior intelligence.” Most intelligence warnings were “general” a source told Eye Spy. This magazine learned of an attack planned by al-Qaida in March and details were published in Eye Spy issue one. The intelligence was supplied to the FBI by MI5, though not specific enough

20 MAY: DANIEL PEARL’S BODY AND JACKET FOUND

It is believed Pakistani police have found the jacket and beheaded body of murdered US journalist, Daniel Pearl. The corpse was in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Karachi, close to the location where he was kidnapped. DNA samples are being taken.

20 MAY: NEW AL-QAIDA ATROCITY WILL HAPPEN - WHITE HOUSE

Dick Cherney told reporters that it is inevitable a new al-Qaida atrocity will take place in America. This follows further intelligence gleaned by the CIA that a US-based al-Qaida unit may take up residence in a block of flats and them blow them up.

20 MAY: “EIGHT-WEEK OLD BIN-LADEN TAPE” SHOWN IN LONDON

An Arabic media house based in London has shown a video tape that purports to show Osama bin-Laden in late April. Analysts who have studied the tape are unsure, though Eye Spy learned that the tape could be authentic. Skeptics say the tape was made in November or October last year.

20 MAY: RUSSIA NOT PREPARING OPERATIONS AGAINST GEORGIA

FSB director TBILISI. May 17 (Interfax) - Russia will not prepare any operations against Georgia, Director of the Russian Federal Security Service [FSB] Nikolai Patrushev has said. Patrushev so commented on recent statements by certain Georgian officials about preparations of Abkhaz armed units supported by the Russian military to invade the Kodori Gorge. "Russia is interested that Georgia be a strong and consolidated state," which meets the national interests of both Russia and other CIS states, the FSB director told a press conference in Tbilisi.

In comments on Chairman of the Russian State Duma international affairs committee Dmitri Rogozin's statement that leader of the Dagestani Wahhabite organization Rappan Khalilov and other terrorists responsible for the bombing in Kaspiisk on May 9 are currently in the Pankisi Gorge, Patrushev noted that Russian parliamentarians "make a lot of statements," which most often express only their personal opinion..

19 MAY: NEW MI5 DIRECTOR ADMIRED BY KGB DEFECTOR

Eliza Manningham-Buller, 53, who was named as the new Director-General of the Security Service, MI5 was hailed as a brilliant counterintelligence officer by the very KGB officer she helped defect. Ms Buller was just one of five people in MI5 who had intelligence that Oleg Gordievsky, perhaps the most important person ever to defect to the UK was an MI6 officer, and worked as a double agent at the Russian Embassy in England. Miss Buller checked and analysed a multitude of stories concerning Gordievsky who supplied the UK and NATO with highly important information. Mr Gordievsky said: “I remember Eliza as a brilliant counter-espionage officer. She was bright, sharp and full of colour.

Eye Spy learned that Ms Buller was favourite amongst three other candidates, two of whom are serving MI5 officers.

• Eye Spy issue 10 carries an indepth feature on Ms Buller.

17 MAY: NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL OF MI5 ANNOUNCED

The home secretary has appointed a new head of MI5. Eliza Manningham-Buller, is currently Deputy Director-General of the Security Service. The former teacher is the second woman to be appointed head of the service.

She will take over from the current Director General, Sir Stephen Lander, in October. Ms Manningham-Buller joined MI5 in 1974. Her early work involved Soviet espionage and she worked on the case of Oleg Gordievsky - the former KGB defector. She also worked for much of her time in counter-terrorism, both international and domestic. The day after the 11 September attacks she flew out to Washington to liaise with the US authorities.

The first woman head of the Security Service was Stella Rimington, now Dame Rimington. She sparked a row after her departure with the publication of her autobiography, in which she called for the Official Secrets Act to be radically reformed. Married Critics argued she should never have been allowed to write a book about her work. Ms Manningham-Buller has served as director for surveillance and technical operations and as director of Irish counter-terrorism. She has been the deputy director general of the Security Service since 1997. A woman who likes crosswords, she is married to husband David.

17 MAY: 45 COMMANDO KILL AL-QAIDA AND TALIBAN FIGHTERS IN FIERCE BATTLE

It is reported that over 1,000 Royal Marines from 45 Commando have clashed with a major force of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the Paktia area of Afghanistan. Sources say that an Australian SAS team was ambushed yesterday and that the Marines were flown in the heart of the area. It is believed that dozens of al-Qaida fighters have been killed. There are no reports of British casualties.

17 MAY: MULLAH OMAR QUOTED IN PAN-ARAB PAPER

Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been quoted in a London-based Pan-Arab newspaper. He says that Osama bin-Laden is still alive and the war in Afghanistan will continue until America burns in hell. More shortly...

16 MAY: FBI AND MI5 AGENT “A CRIMINAL” - CLAIM

The chief witness in the case of the forthcoming trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the Real IRA, has been described by an American source as a “street-smart criminal who would do anything for money.” The claim was made by a defence lawyer for Mr McKevitt in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday. David Rupert, the man who infiltrated the Real IRA was an agent of both the FBI and then MI5.

See Eye Spy 1, 2 and a forthcoming feature in issue 10

16 MAY: WASHINGTON KNEW OF AL-QAIDA HIJACK PLANS BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER

The Pentagon has admitted that it had prior 11 September knowledge of Osama bin-Laden’s plans to hijack US airliners. However, it did not believe that the hijackers would use the aircraft “with civilians on board” as missiles and crash them into buildings.

Eye Spy learned, and published, some details way back in May 2001 - that both MI5 and the FBI had uncovered the plot possibly prior to March 2001. However, both organisations failed to learn when the atrocity was going to be committed, or indeed, where. It is still not known if the FBI via Mossad, had at least some of the hijackers under observance before the September attacks on the USA. Clearly in Europe, the case was different and the movements of some suspects via London were monitored.

16 MAY: MAJOR US OVERHAUL OF ‘STUDENT VISAS’ AFTER SECURITY REVIEW

All foreign students in the United States are to be tracked by a huge Internet-based system that will monitor the student’s movements and work record. This follows the recent case over 120 Israeli ‘art students’ (see Eye Spy 9). Similarly, three of the 11 September hijackers were in America on student visas

16 MAY: SPANISH INTELLIGENCE FOIL ETA ATTACK ON MADRID SUMMIT

Spanish security services believe they have foiled a huge attack on a Madrid summit due to take place tomorrow. Tony Blair and over 40 other government heads are due to attend the meeting.

Two suspected ETA members were arrested as they prepared a 90lb car explosive. When security officers raided their apartment, they discovered a further 400lb of high explosives, automatic weapons, false number plates and other items. The men were named as Imanol Miner Villanueva, 26, and Mikel Guillermo San Argimiro, 39.

16 MAY: AL-QAIDA LOS-ANGELES SUSPECT CLOSE TO EXTRADITION

Amar Makhlulif, 37, also known as The Doctor of Doha, has been remanded in custody in London, following a new court ruling. Mr Makhlulif, faces charges in the United States that he plotted to blow-up Los Angeles airport and sending recruits to Osama bin-LadenThe US soldiers have been patrolling the area.

16 MAY: PEARL FAMILY SLAM CBS OVER VIDEO

The distraught family of Daniel Pearl, the murdered American reporter, has criticism the US broadcasting company, CBS, for showing a video of the Wall Street employee in captivity. The tape was shown last Tuesday (14 May), after a Saudi contact approached CBS and claimed the recording was being widely shown on the Internet as a “recruitment tool for Islamic extremists.” In one section, Mr Pearl is heard to say, “My father’s Jewish... my mother’s Jewish, I am Jewish.” He was certainly being threatened and under extreme duress when he made the statement.

Mr Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in Karachi in January by al-Qaida sympathizers or indeed, agents.

Though the Pearl family pleaded with CBS not to air the tape, Jim Murphy, of the company said: “We felt we had a journalistic responsibility to show the tape because it was being used in a recruitment drive among the educated elite in Saudi Arabia.”

The family said in a released statement, they found it “incomprehensible that relatives would have to relive this horrifying tragedy and watch their loved one being repeatedly terrorized. Danny believed that journalism was a tool to respect the truth and foster understanding, not to perpetuate propaganda and sensationalize tragedy.”

11 MAY: FBI AGENTS TO APPEAR AT PEARL TRIAL

At least one FBI agent is set to appear at the trial of three men accused of the kidnap and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who was kidnapped in southern Karachi in January and had his throat slit by al-qaida sympathisers.

9 MAY: PAKISTAN EXPLOSION WORK OF AL-QAIDA

A suicide car bomb in Karachi has killed 14 people, including 11 French engineers who were building a submarine for the Pakistan Navy. The bomb exploded next to a 45-seat bus was outside the Sheraton Hotel. French Intelligence officials believe that the bomb was the work of al-Qaida. A further 30 people were injured, 12 of them French.

General Jean-Pierre Kelche, head of the French armed forces, believes the bombers had targeted the West in general and specifically countries engaged in the US-led coalition force. “It’s a little early to say, but there is a significant likelihood of al-Qaida involvement in the attack.”

President Jacques Chirac, said the attack was “vile” and France was “determined to do everything possible to fight international terrorism.” He said that he would send Michele Alliot-Marie, the Defence Minister, to Karachi later today.

The New Zealand and Pakistani cricket teams cancelled a five-day match that they were to start playing in Karachi today. The two teams were staying in another hotel across the road from the Sheraton. The New Zealand team has decided to return home.

Pakistan Police said that the blast appeared to have been the work of a suicide bomber. “We have recovered a burnt body from a car next to the bus,” said police chief, Sayed Kamal Shah, in the Sindh province. The blast left a 9ft deep crater in the road.

General Musharraf has recently banned five extremist groups. Two months later an attack on a church killed five worshippers in an Islamabad. Two of the dead were Americans.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in southern Karachi in January and had his throat slit by al-qaida sympathisers.

8 MAY: SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 15 IN ISRAEL

In the latest suicide bombing in Israel, a young Palestinian walked into a snooker hall and detonated a huge bomb attached to his body. The subsequent blast killed 15 people and injured a further 55, many seriously.

7 MAY: US SPECIAL FORCES ARRIVE “ONE MONTH TOO LATE” - AFGHANISTAN

Intelligence analysts reviewing the impact of Operation Anaconda, say that while large parts of Afghanistan have been cleared of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, they admit far too many escaped over the border into Pakistan. Weapons and ammunition was found in Paktia area, but few prisoners were taken.

• Royal Marine Commandoes and Australian SAS are continuing to search for senior al-Qaida commanders, though sources claim they too are finding little success. The threat is no longer with al-Qaida, but Afghani tribesmen who oppose the US-led coalition forces.

6 MAY: FSB INDICTS FORMER INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

The Investigative Department of the FSB has finished its investigation of the agency’s former lieutenant colonel, Aleksandr Litvinenko, and handed his case over to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, Russian news agencies reported on 23 April. Litvinenk’s lawyer, Vadim Svistunov, said he will file an appeal against the FSB's motion as the Litvinenko defense was not informed about the completion of the investigation and had no access to its indictment materials.

Litvinenko, who is accused of abuse of office and theft of explosive materials, publicly stated in a press conference in Moscow in 1998 that the FSB's leadership asked him to kill media magnate Boris Berezovsky.

Following his revelations, Litvinenko was dismissed from the FSB, arrested, and became the subject of a criminal investigation. However, in 1999, the Moscow Garrison Military Court found him not guilty and he was released from custody. In 2000, Litvinenko left Russia and received political asylum in Britain, where he co-authored a book on the role of the FSB in the apartment-building explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk in August-September 1999.

Meanwhile, speaking in the Duma on 22 April, Viktor Alksnis, a deputy from Regions of Russia and known for his hard-line Communist and nationalist orientation, proposed creating a commission to investigate the explosions in 1999, the Agency of Russian Information reported at http://www.ari.ru on 23 April.

Alksnis’s proposal got 172 votes with the Communist, Agrarian, and part of the Union of Rightist Forces faction voting for it. Some 226 votes are needed to pass the bill. It is surprising that the motion to investigate the possible role of the FSB in the explosion is coming from leftist parties, which until recently had blocked such an initiative.

6 MAY: AL-QAIDA PLANS TO TAKE BRITISH HOSTAGES

A leaked intelligence dossier prepared by Germany’s Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (Bundeskriminalamt - BKA), Germany’s equivalent of Scotland Yard or the FBI, said that they are urgently seeking three “extremely dangerous terrorists” who are carrying plans to take “hundreds of hostages” in Britain, France and Germany within the next two weeks. The BKA, which deals specifically with national law enforcement issues, particularly terrorism, believes that if the terrorists are successful, they will demand the release of dozens of al-Qaida prisoners being held throughout Europe on various charges.

Other details in the report reveal that BKA analysts believe the three men, named only as Schah Ahmad Pergham, Rashid and Nisa, are quite prepared to die for their cause.

Working with intelligence officers from various countries, including Britain’s MI5 and America’s FBI, the BKA believe that the terrorists might take over a shopping centre, airport or a large department store.

Officials from the 2,500-strong BKA, whose headquarters are in Wiesbaden, were annoyed at the leak, but tried to play down the report. But a German intelligence expert, Udo Ulfkotte, who specialises on terrorist matters, said he had learned from a BKA officer, that the organisation suspected that some 30 suicide-bombers (men and women), from Iraq. Iran, Yemen and Sudan have been given orders to strike in the UK, France and Germany, seizing 300 to 400 hostages in each country.

The report comes only days after the FBI issued a similar alert in the United States. A captured senior al-Qaida commander, Abu Zubaydah, codenamed The Gatekeeper, by the CIA, and easily the most high-ranking official from the terrorist group in US custody, said al-Qaida has the technology and means to build and detonate a ‘dirty bomb’. Zubaydah also informed the FBI that the group had agents throughout the world and that agents may seize a shopping centre. Hence the alert two weeks ago.

The BKA has liaison officers in London and Washington and it is likely that some of the German report was basedon information shared by the FBI.

In Germany itself, the nation is on high alert. Three terrorist organisations have been operating in Germany, and all have been linked with Osama bin-Laden. One was based in Hamburg and protected several of the 11 September hijackers. Several terrorist trials are about to begin.

Meanwhile in Britain, the Security Service is well aware of the threat posed by al-Qaida. Several months ago intelligence officers were advised that the terror group was planning a huge atrocity, and that it could be centred upon a shopping centre.

5 MAY: CIA IN CHARGE OF US MILITARY IN AFGHANISTAN

It is understood that due to the secretive nature of some military operations in Afghanistan, the CIA is actually spearheading some attacks on al-Qaida positions. In a raid that took place earlier today, some eight al-Qaida suspects were detained in a village on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

5 MAY: MOSSAD CHIEF DISMISSES RIFT WITH SHARON

In a move to stave off criticism of Mossad and the Israeli Government, Mossad director, Ephraim Halevy, said that there was no conflict of interests with Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister. A few days ago, it was reported that Sharon had drawn up a secret plan to move Halevy to Washington to take up the post of ambassador. Halevy hit back saying he was not going. However, the rift caused by the military advance in Palestinian controlled areas, appears over with both men saying that there never was a problem.

5 MAY: FBI ROUND-UP OF AL-QAIDA SUSPECTS “A FAILURE”

Latest information on the enormous FBI operation to detain suspected al-Qaida members in America, indicates it has been a failure. The FBI has rounded up 1425 suspects across America since 11 September, but it has been revealed that NOT ONE person has been found to have any links with terrorism.

5 MAY: MI5 SET TO ANNOUNCE NEW DIRECTOR-GENERAL

MI5, the Security Service, is set to announce its new Director General who will replace Sir Stephen Lander in Autumn 2002. Four people are in the running for the position, but favourite is Eliza Manningham-Buller, 53, current deputy to Sir Stephen. She is a career intelligence officer who once served as MI5’s liaison officer at the British Embassy in Washington.

As a youngster, she once played the Fairy Godmother in the pantomime, Cinderella. He performance was described as “absolutely wonderful” by the play’s director.

MI5 is currently reorganising, and when the new DG does take over she will have a full schedule.

• Since 11 September, MI5 have recruited over 250 new officers and staff.

• The modest budget for the Service has risen from £160m to close to £200m

• MI5 received a further boost to its coffers when some £20m was given to its G-Branch which deals specifically with international terrorism.

• MI5 is currently investigating al-Qaida sympathizers in the UK.

• The Service is also assessing recent developments over moves to re-arm and mobilise IRA units.

1 MAY: RUSSIA CHARGES US-BASED EX-KGB AGENT WITH TREASON

Russian military prosecutors said on Tuesday they had filed treason charges against Oleg Kalugin, an ex-KGB general now living in the United States who exchanged jibes with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Chief military prosecutor Mikhail Kislitsyn told Interfax news agency he had signed the case papers on Monday and sent them to a Moscow court.

Kalugin was charged under article 275 of the criminal code with passing state secrets, Kislitsyn said without elaborating. A one-time spymaster for the Soviet Union in the United States, Kalugin traded insults with Putin shortly before the latter won the Russian presidency in March 2000. Putin, himself a former KGB intelligence officer, branded Kalugin a traitor for saying Russia was awash in crime and corruption. Kalugin called Putin a war criminal in an apparent reference to Russia's crackdown in breakaway Chechnya.

Russian news agencies say the Kalugin case centres on the trial of retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel George Trofimoff, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer convicted of spying. He was jailed for life last September for selling military secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Kalugin, who had been Trofimoff's supervisor, denied he had blown Trofimoff's cover to British and U.S. intelligence.

In March, Kalugin ignored a summons to face interrogation in Moscow by the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB. He says the charges against him have been sparked by his criticism of the former
intelligence service.

29 APRIL: EGYPT JAILS AL-QAIDA MAN

An Egyptian state security court sentenced Mohammed el-Sayeed Solim Youseff to ten years in prison. He was found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Youseff trained at terror camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

29 APRIL: MI6 MADE FIRST APPROACH TO KGB

A former senior Russian Intelligence officer has revealed how MI6 made the first moves to establish relations with its old rivals, the KGB, after the Cold War ended. However, Yevgeni Primakov, the former head of the SVR, the new organisation responsible for foreign intelligence, said there were many problems about spies operating in each either nation.

29 APRIL: US DRAWING UP IRAQI BATTLE PLANS

The New York Times says that the US invasion of Iraq has been put back until 2003 as military commanders and intelligence analysts need more time to organise. Similarly, some analysts have advised President Bush that an attack on Iraq made by viewed as an attack on Islam. It is known that some 250,000 US troops almost certainly supported by several thousand British soldiers will enter Iraq at some stage. Already in the UK military commanders have held a top secret summit on the invasion.

29 APRIL: ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE FOIL SKYSCRAPER ATTACK

According to sources in Israel, the security services have foiled an attempt to blow up a number of skyscrapers in Tel Aviv. Terrorists had planned to bring down the towers using carefully positioned car bombs.

29 APRIL: STAR WARS SYSTEM WOULD ‘ENDANGER SPACE SATELLITES’

A functioning ‘star wars’ system would spell disaster for satellites or space stations in the low Earth orbit, creating a “hazardous ring of debris” according to Professor Joel Primack, of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and some communication network would be vulnerable to fast moving debris that would be impossible to remove. The debris would not just come from exploding weapons, but from small projectiles crashing into and fragmenting larger object, said the professor.

29 APRIL: GERMAN INTELLIGENCE DISCOVER AL-QAIDA HOSTAGE PLOT

A leaked report by the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA), Germany’s equivalent of Scotland Yard, say it is urgently seeking three terrorists who plan to take hundreds of hostages in Britain, France and Germany within the next three weeks. The al-Qaida fighters have been named as Schah Ahmad Pergham, Rashid and Nisa. It is understood that the men may target a shopping complex or cinema.

29 APRIL: NEW MI5 DIRECTOR GENERAL SET TO BE NAMED

It is believed the new Director General of Britain’s Security Service, will be The Honourable Eliza Manningham-Buller. She will take over from Sir Stephen Lander whose tenure ends this Autumn. Miss Manningham-Buller, 53, was number two in the Service five years ago, and is believed to have been recruited in Oxford.

26 APRIL: IRA AND FARC COOPERATING - US CONGRESS

The United States Congress has severely criticized the IRA for being in collusion with FARC guerillas in Colombia - the sworn enemy of Washington. The statement comes at a time when intelligence gathered by MI6 suggests the IRA has received a huge consignment of weapons from Russia while decommissioning arms under the Good Friday Agreement.

Similarly, an alleged IRA ‘hit list’ has been found and the organisation is still being blamed for the break-in at Castlereagh Police Station where a secret list of 200 British agents names was stolen.

The IRA dismiss Washington’s suggestions and say that the organisation is intent on peace and disarmament.

25 APRIL: AL-QAIDA EURO TRIAL STARTS IN FRANKFURT

Five suspected al-Qaida terrorists who were arrested in Germany following a tip-off from MI5, have gone on trial in Frankfurt, accused of plotting to detonate a huge nail bomb at Strasbourg Christmas markets in December 2000. When security services raided the flat they discovered bomb-making equipment and false documents. Some members of the gang have been connected to Essid Sami ben Khemais, now serving a five-year prison term, and the suspected leader of Osama bin-Laden’s European operation.

25 APRIL: FBI ISSUE WARNING OF SHOPPING CENTRE ATTACKS

The FBI has issued a warning to American shopping centres that al-Qaida could be planning to attack locations frequented by large numbers of people. The intelligence was apparently gleaned from a captured al-Qaida commander and is deemed “reliable.”

Eye Spy learned six months ago that MI5 was searching for a UK-based al-Qaida cell that had allegedly planned to attack some of Britain’s most prestigious shopping centres, and locations, including the Trafford Centre in Manchester. It is also understood that one of MI5’s biggest fears is that al-Qaida will detonate a ‘dirty bomb’ in such an area resulting in a huge loss of life.

According to Eye Spy sources the threat of such an attack is “highly likely.”

25 APRIL: IRAQ HELPING RE-ARM AL-QAIDA FIGHTERS

British Intelligence have now ‘reliable evidence’ that Saddam Hussein is indeed liaising with Osama bin-Laden’s al-Qaida network. Intelligence gleaned from Iraq says members of Saddam’s Republican Guard have been seen in villages in Iraqi Kurdistan. Here al-Qaida fighters are known to be regrouping. The intelligence is certain to feed Washington’s desire to eliminate the Iraqi regime.

25 APRIL: AL-QAIDA HAS N-BOMB TECHNOLOGY AND DESIRE TO USE IT

Abu Zubaydah, the most senior member of al-Qaida in US custody, has told his interrogators that al-Qaida has the ability and desire to construct a ‘dirty bomb’ that would cause huge devastation if detonated. US officials do not know whether to believe the man nicknamed ‘The Gatekeeper’ by the CIA.

25 APRIL: US CUBAN SPY ADMITS GUILT

Ana Belen Montes, 45, America’s most senior Cuban analyst had admitted she spied on America for 15 years. The DIA employee now faces at least 25-years in prison. Eye Spy learned she betrayed the names of four undercover US agents in Cuba

MORE EYE SPY 9

25 APRIL: PEARL CASE - OMAR SHEIKH DROVE REPORTER AWAY

Omar Saeed Sheikh, currently on trial in Karachi for the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, was seen to drive the journalist away on the day he was last seen by a taxi driver who had taken him to meet Sheikh.

25 APRIL: AL-QAIDA EUROPEAN CELL PLANNED HUGE CHRISTMAS BOMB

Five al-Qaida suspects have gone on trial in Frankfurt charged with planning a series of major strikes against European targets. MI6 and French Intelligence tipped German security official about the al-Qaida cell in late November 2000. When police raided a flat in Frankfurt they found 29kg of potassium permanganate, aluminium powder, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, sodium carbonate and boxes of nails - all ingredients for a massive nail bomb.

A video-tape recording that was found on site showed central Strasbourg and led the police to believe that the bomb was intended to go off at the city’s Christmas market. A commentary says “you are all doomed to rot in Hell, may God will it.”

22 APRIL: US ADMIT THEY LET BIN-LADEN SLIP THROUGH NET

For the first time since US forces cleared the Tora Bora area of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, senior Pentagon officials now acknowledge they were “too slow” in cutting off escape routes. Similarly, Washington has clear evidence that Osama bin-Laden gave his final orders to al-Qaida commanders in the area before escaping.

22 APRIL: BRITISH ‘JACKAL’ WAS DOUBLE AGENT

Omar Sheikh, the man wanted by America for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, could well have been a double agent working for both Pakistan’s ISI agency and al-Qaida. It is unlikely that he was present when Mr Pearl had his throat cut, but Pakistani authorities are quite satisfied Sheikh instigated the execution.

22 APRIL: USS COLE SAILS AGAIN

Eighteen months after it was struck by an al-Qaida bomb and almost sunk, the USS Cole returned to sea on 19 April, following extensive repairs. Seventeen members of the Cole’s crew died in the attack which took place in the Port of Aden, Yemen. Security was tight at the dockyard in Mississippi and several Coast Guard vessels patrolled as the US Navy took no chances of a repeat performance by al-Qaida.

22 APRIL: ITALIAN CRASH WAS “DELIBERATE”

Intelligence and police investigators in Milan are working on the theory that the pilot who flew his light aircraft into the 26th floor of the Pirelli Tower in Milan, killing himself and three others, did so deliberately. The family of 67-year-old Luigi Fasulo, say he had “crippling debts” and that could have driven him to suicide. The security services also pointed to a number of “odd coincidences” including the fact that the aircraft collided dead centrally, and the floor he struck the offices of the Lombardy regional government and its President, Roberto

19 APRIL: BRITISH TRAITOR HAS “NO REGRETS”

George Blake, 79, said in a recent interview that he had no regrets spying on Great Britain for the Soviets during the Cold War. Blake was arrested in 1961 but escaped from prison after serving just five years of a 42-year sentence. Blake still lectures to potential Russian intelligence agents.

George Blake

19 APRIL: US FAMILIES HEAR LAST MOMENTS OF FLIGHT 93

FBI Director, Robert Mueller, bowed to public pressure and authorised the release of the cockpit tape recording as one of the 11 September hijacked aircraft crashed. Relatives attended an emotional get together of the people who died when the United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. A tape recording that graphically caught the final moments was played, and the evidence of a heroic struggle can be heard as the passengers make a determined effort to regain control of the airliner.

19 APRIL: US ADMIT THEY LET BIN-LADEN SLIP THROUGH NET

For the first time since US forces cleared the Tora Bora area of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, senior Pentagon officials now acknowledge they were “too slow” in cutting off escape routes. Similarly, Washington has clear evidence that Osama bin-Laden gave his final orders to al-Qaida commanders in the area before escaping.

19 APRIL: MILAN DISASTER WAS A PURE ACCIDENT

The light aircraft which crashed into Milan’s Pirelli Tower was flown by a 68-year-old Italian, named Luigi Fasulo. Five people died and a further 60 were injured when the single-seat aircraft ran into trouble and smashed into the 25th floor. Initially the Italian Government believed that the crash was deliberate, but it soon became clear it was an accident.

INTELLIGENCE COMMENT: What is worrying many finance officials is that only minutes after the incident, stock markets around the world plummeted. This follows Osama bin-Laden’s claim that the September 11 attacks had dealt a huge financial blow to America. Scenes of concern and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars on the stock markets “will not have gone unnoticed by al-Qaida as they plan for the future,” one intelligence source told Eye Spy.

19 APRIL: UK POLITICIANS ON IRA HIT LIST

Several Conservative politicians names and the locations of British Army bases have been discovered on a republican ‘hit list in Belfast’.

The list was acquired by security services after a series of searches following a break-in at Special Branch offices in Belfast which was blamed on the IRA. Security sources in the city confirmed that a list of names had been recovered in the New Lodge area of the city.

Some intelligence analysts say the IRA is not to blame and have indicated that the reasons behind the break-in are “very sensitive.”

Sinn Fein has also denied the IRA was involved in the burglary. But security chiefs have insisted the missing documents from Castlereagh were in the possession of the Provisionals.

North Belfast MLA Fred Cobain said: “If there is evidence that the Provisional IRA is targeting people, especially high level politicians in the Tory Party, then that has serious repercussions for the whole process.

“Republicans know the risks of doing that. As far as our party is concerned, we have tried to be positive, allowing republicans to demonstrate they were working the process through and are committed to peaceful and democratic means.

“Clearly there are doubts about that. The Ulster Unionist Party needs to reassess its relationship with Sinn Fein in this process. We cannot go on pretending things are all right when one of the parties to the peace process may be undermining it.”

MORE EYE SPY 9

19 APRIL: SPY WRITER THREATENED WITH PRISON

Rupert Allison, better known as one of Britain’s most successful spy writers, Nigel West, has been given just 18 days to reveal details of his finances by a London judge. The matter involves £200.000 awarded to Random House publishers over a spy book

16 APRIL: HIJACKER ON BIN-LADEN TAPE IDENTIFIED

The alleged hijacker who appears on the controversial new Osama bin-Laden video acquired by Arab satellite station, Al-Jazeera, has been identified as Ahmed Alghamdi, who was on board United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade Center.

16 APRIL: BIN-LADEN TAPE FILMED IN 2001 - CIA

The Pentagon has dismissed the new Osama bin-Laden tape as an ‘al-Qaida propaganda exercise that has backfired’. The tape received by the respected Arab satellite station, Al Jazeera, shows Osama bin-Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, in front of a rocky backdrop.

Intelligence analysts who have examined the clips say that it was taken between 11 September and 31 December 2001, and is not a new recording. Throughout the clips what were shown, bin-Laden looks relatively well and not in any discomfort, unlike tapes known to have been shot in October and November. Analysts also noted that the men were not concerned about the rocky terrain being identified, unlike the video footage taken of the men in October when US forces were attacking al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Al Jazeera refused to say how they acquired the tape but are showing more footage on Thursday.

16 APRIL: BRITAIN’S 45 COMMANDO IN AL-QAIDA ATTACK

Hundreds of British troops from 45 Commando have gone into action in East Afghanistan against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters. The raid supported by USAF fighter aircraft and Afghan troops was described as successful by senior officers.

15 APRIL: AL-JAZEERA SHOW ‘NEW BIN-LADEN TAPE’

The Arab satellite station, Al-Jazeera has broadcast a segment of a new Osama bin-Laden video they claim is relatively new. Ayman Zawahiri, known by the CIA as the ‘Warm-up Man’, speaks about the “great victory” of 11 September and says that God helped the hijackers. Throughout the section of the tape (the majority will be broadcast on Thursday), bin-Laden does not speak and looks downward to the floor. The terrain in the background offers now clues as the location.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defense Secretary speaking from the Pentagon was not impressed. CIA analysts say the tape was probably made last year and not recently.

15 APRIL: MASS GRAVES FOUND IN AFGHANISTAN

Stories of mass graves being found in Bamiyan province in Afghanistan appear to be true. The bodies of hundreds of Hazara men have been discovered after they were slaughtered by retreating al-Qaida and Taliban forces last year.

15 APRIL: ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE CAPTURE KEY ARAFAT AIDE

Israeli intelligence has pulled off a remarkable operation and captured Marwan Barghouti, a key Arafat aide and leader of the current uprising in the area. Mossad believe Barghouti is the successor to Arafat and want to question him on various operations. An Arafat spokesperson warned of the “grave consequences” if he is harmed

15 APRIL: US WARN BRITAIN OVER POSSIBLE TERROR STRIKES

The United States intelligence services have provided MI5 and Scotland Yard with information acquired from reliable sources that indicates Britain will be the target of the next big terror attack. It is possible that Scotland Yard may issue ‘general alerts’ similar to those given by the FBI and the new Homeland security service in the USA.

15 APRIL 2002: MI6 MONITOR IRANIAN TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS

MI6 sources say Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service has observed a huge increase in the number of people passing through known Iranian terror training camps. MI6 believe many of the men belong to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group that has close ties with al-Qaida. Many of the camps are run by the Revolutionary Guards unit. It is understood that as many as 500 people have passed through the camps since the turn of the year.

15 APRIL: US SPECIAL FORCES KILL TERRORISTS IN AFGHANISTAN

The Pentagon has revealed that several al-Qaida terrorists were killed after they fired upon US and coalition forces at the weekend. Major Bryan Hilferty said: “We received inefficient enemy fire and we returned fire from both the ground and air and killed several terrorists.” In a separate incident, US forces discovered a large weapons dump.

15 APRIL: BIN-LADEN’S FINANCIAL CHIEF ARRESTED IN SPAIN

It has been revealed that Ahmed Brahim, 57, the suspected finance manager of Al-Qaida has been arrested in Barcelona, Spain. The CIA has linked him to the terrorist attacks on US embassies in Africa.

MORE EYE SPY 9

13 APRIL: QUEEN MOTHER - FUNERAL BOMB PLOT FOILED

It is becoming increasingly clear that Police in London may have foiled a Real IRA bomb attack that was to coincide with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. A vehicle was abandoned after its driver was challenged by a police officer checking vehicles. MI5 and Scotland Yard had received intelligence about a terrorist attack.

It is understood the car, found a few hours after the funeral, contained empty fertilizer bags, a key ingredient in home made explosives.

13 APRIL: MI5 TO FORM ‘CRACK UNIT’ TO HUNT TERROR MONEY

MI5 will form a new unit to trace the movement of terrorists money across the globe. Gordon Brown, Britain’s Chancellor called on university graduates to “join the war against terror” by training in financial intelligence and forensic accountancy.

13 APRIL: BRITAIN STOCKPILES “TERRORIST VACCINE”

The UK Government has built up an enormous supply of the smallpox vaccine to guard against a terrorist germ attack. It is understood 30 million doses of the vaccine has been distributed to key centres across the UK.

Though the government say that they have no evidence of a planned attack, Whitehall has been alerted to the fact that Russia continued to develop smallpox and that some supplies of the virus may have ended up in Iraq or with al-Qaida agents.

10 APRIL: MOSCOW ACCUSES US OF ATTEMPTED ESPIONAGE

Moscow has launched a vociferous attack on the CIA, accusing them of attempting to recruit a Russian defence worker to spy on behalf of the USA. “They almost managed to succeed, before the spying was exposed,” said a Russian government official. Moscow claims CIA agents posing as diplomats at the US Embassy were responsible.

10 APRIL: CIA AND PAKISTAN’S ISI IN SWOOP ON AL-QAIDA SUPPORTERS

Officers from the CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services-Intelligence agency, ISI, have reportedly made a number of arrests of al-Qaida sympathizers belonging to two outlawed organizations, Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Muhammad, in Pakistan. The groups were outlawed some months ago by General Musharraf. The joint operation followed intelligence gleaned by the National Security Agency.

The groups had been sheltering some 24 al-Qaida fighters who escaped the fierce fighting on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

10 APRIL 2002: FARC BOMB KILLS POLICEMEN

Two police explosives experts died when they attempted to deactivate a car bomb in the Colombian town of Sibate. Officials said Marxist terrorists from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had planted the device.

10 APRIL: 2000 DEAD IN RECENT ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

United Nations officials say some 1360 Palestinians and 460 Israelis have been killed in the last 12 months as the conflict in the area shows no sign out easing.

10 APRIL: NEW YORK: FOUR ACCUSED OF HELPING AL-QAIDA

NEW YORK: Four people, including the solicitor for Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the spiritual leader of the group who was jailed for planning the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, were charged with assisting al-Qaida.

9 APRIL: PAKISTAN SAYS IT WILL USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS

President, General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, has warned India that his country would use nuclear weapons to defend itself. As the Middle East situation worsens, tension between India and Pakistan has grown in recent days. India has accused Pakistan of preparing to send 3,000 militants in the disputed Kashmir region.

President Musharraf said: “If Pakistan is threatened with extinction, then the pressure of our countrymen would be so big that this option, [nuclear] too, would have to be considered.”

Intelligence analysts believe Pakistan has around 100-150 nuclear warheads compared with India’s 250-350. However, The Federation of American Scientists believe Pakistan has only 25 warheads.

7 APRIL: SINGAPORE - AL-QAIDA AIRLINE PLOT FOILED

Goh Chok Tong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, told politicians that security forces had foiled a terrorist plot to hijack an airliner and crash it into Changi airport. He revealed that the man behind the operation was an al-Qaida suspect who had escaped from Singapore several months ago.

7 APRIL: 200 BRITISH INTELLIGENCE AND POLICE OFFICERS WARNED OF SECURITY

Following a break-in at the highly fortified Castlereagh police station in Northern Ireland, and the removal of highly secret intelligence files containing the names of over 100 MI5 and intelligence agents, Scotland Yard has issued a warning about the security of up to 200 personnel.

7 APRIL: MI5 CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE BIN-LADEN’S UK PHONE CALLS

Osama bin-Laden and his senior commanders, made over 260 telephone calls to 27 operatives or contacts in the UK. Many of these numbers were to public telephone boxes, though the Security Service is confident that the receivers of these calls will be identified. Two of the men contacted by bin-Laden are Khaled al Fawwaz and Ibrahim Eidarous, both in prison and awaiting extradition to the USA for their part in the African embassy bombings that left over 200 people dead.

7 APRIL : FBI AGENT SLAMS AGENCY

Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who spied for the Soviet Union and then Russia for 20 years, has accused the agency of “criminal negligence.” A security assessment based on internal interviews with the 57-year-old veteran, reveals huge holes in the FBI’s potential to detect spies. The critical review states that employees could simply walk out of buildings with top secret files and download sensitive intelligence data from computers.

Full story Eye Spy 9

7 APRIL : AL-QAIDA OFFER $100,000 FOR A “LIVE WESTERNER”

Hardline al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are infiltrating villages throughout Afghanistan and distributing leaflets which offer substantial rewards for captured coalition troops. The leaflets offer $50,000 for a dead Westerner and $100,000 for one captured alive.

7 APRIL 2002: PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS “SADDAM MUST GO”

President George Bush and Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair are adamant that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must be toppled. Mr Bush said: “I made up my mind that Saddam need to go.” When asked about the forthcoming operation to oust Saddam, Mr Bush said: “Just wait and see.”

Eye Spy has learned that both the USAF and RAF have stepped up joint operations.

5 APRIL: PEARL KILLERS - SUSPECTS TRIAL BEGINS IN KARACHI

Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Briton, suspected of masterminding the kidnapping of US journalist Danial Pearl, has gone on trial in Karachi with three other men. The court case is being held behind closed doors amid security fears. The trial was opened and adjourned.

2 APRIL : AL-QAIDA ‘GATEKEEPER’ IN CIA HANDS

Following a raid on a suspected al-Qaida hideout in Pakistan, Abu Zubaydah, the man referred to by the CIA as ‘The Gatekeeper’, has been arrested by Pakistan special forces. He was shot several times but not killed and is now in US hands together with 40 other al-Qaida suspects arrested at the same time.

Zubaydah, who was charged by Osama bin-Laden in funneling recruits to various training camps, is the most senior al-Qaida commander in custody and is expected to be flow to Camp X-Ray on Cuba, after being debriefed by US and Pakistan intelligence.

For background on Abu Zubaydah, see Eye Spy 8.

29 MARCH: US SPECIAL FORCES KILL 52 AL-QAIDA FIGHTERS

US Central Command has confirmed that American special forces killed at least 52 al-Qaida fighters in a clash on the Afghan-Pakistan border. There were no coalition casualties.

24 MARCH: BRITISH AEROSPACE WORKER CHARGED WITH ESPIONAGE

A 45-year-old British Aerospace employee has been charged with nine offences under the Official Secrets Act. He was allegedly trapped by an MI5 operation after trying to sell top secret documents to Russian agents. He is set to appear before Southend Magistrates tomorrow.

• Earlier this year, a security guard at BAe, Stanmore, London, was jailed for stealing NATO and British military secrets.

23 MARCH: CIA BOOBY TRAP ACCIDENTALLY “KILLED PEACEKEEPERS”

On 6 March 2002, five members of the multinational peacekeeping force, three Danes and two Germans were killed as an anti-aircraft missile they were trying to destroy detonated. Seven of their colleagues were injured in what was described as an “accident,” by Washington.

The incident occurred on the outskirts of Kabul, where the British Army has established a collection point for captured munitions.

However, Eye Spy Intelligence magazine learned from a former member of Britain’s Special Forces, who served in the earlier Afghan conflict against the Soviets, that the men died when an unexploded US Stinger missile that had been booby-trapped by the CIA’s Special Activities Division (SAD), exploded. The intelligence source, who trained the personal bodyguards of murdered Northern Alliance leader, General Ahmed Shah Massoud, was informed by members of Germany’s Special Forces that they were furious about the deaths. The Germans made up about half of the 200-strong multinational force fighting alongside US and Afghanistan soldiers in the recent Operation Anaconda mission that saw over 500 al-Qaida and Taliban fighters killed in the mountains of Paktia province.

The German intelligence officer who supplied the information said the Stinger had been booby-trapped because the CIA did not want any unexploded warhead to fall into al-Qaida or Taliban hands and then be sold to foreign governments such as Iraq, Iran or China. It is known that several Cruise missiles fired by US forces in recent years against Taliban targets, failed to explode. The weapons were duly sold to China who received the technology windfall warmly in return for monies.

What is interesting about the Stinger claim, is that the German chief of staff, General Harald Kujat, said the five dead men had been preparing a controlled explosion to destroy two SA-3 missiles captured from the Taliban.
Eye Spy believes the incident was concealed because Germany’s role in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly controversial. Similarly, it is not the first occasion when friendly forces have been killed by US errors. In the Gulf War, a British troop carrier was attacked by an American warplane killing most of the occupants.

22 MARCH: FORMER MI5 OFFICER SHAYLER LOSES APPEAL

David Shayler, the former MI5 officer, has lost his fight to stop his criminal trial when the law lords unanimously dismissed his argument that the Official Secrets Act infringed his right to freedom of expression.

Mr Shayler argued that he disclosed information about MI5 to a newspaper because he thought it was in the public interest and that the Secrets Act was “incompatible with the Human Rights Act.”

His secrets trial due to start at the Old Bailey on October 7.

"Despite the high importance attached to it, the right to free expression was never regarded domestic law as absolute," said Lord Bingham. The European convention human rights - enshrined in the 1998 Human Rights Act -also recognised it was not absolute,” he said.

Lord Bingham said: "The crux of this case is whether the safeguards built in to the Official Secrets Act are sufficient to ensure that unlawfulness and irregularity can be reported to those with the power and duty to take effective action, and the power to withhold authorization to publish is notabused and that proper disclosures are not stifled."

Shayler is charged with disclosing documents and information to the press in 1997, including MI5 files on British politicians Jack Straw and Peter Mandelson, and others once considered subversive, allegations that it ran a "honey trap" operation against a potential informer, had an outdated cold war culture, and condoned alcoholism among staff.

22 MARCH: CIA INVESTIGATE LIMA US EMBASSY EXPLOSION

The CIA and local Peruvian police are investigating the explosion near the US Embassy in Lima, Peru, which killed at least nine people yesterday. The bomb follows a grenade attack on a church in Karachi where the wife of a US diplomat and his daughter were killed. The CIA is unsure if the attack was linked to al-Qaida or local terrorist/drugs gangs. They are satisfied however, that the timing of the blast, does coincide with President Bush’s visit to Lima tomorrow.

22 MARCH: PAKISTAN NOW CHARGE PEARL SUSPECTS

Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Briton, who has already been charged with hostage taking and conspiracy to commit hostage taking by the US Federal Court, has now been charged with similar offences by Pakistan. Three other men have also been charged. The case will be heard in a week or so, but it is already clear Pakistan has substantial evidence against Sheikh, who has threatened a fearsome response if he is extradited to America.

22 MARCH: CIA INVESTIGATE LIMA US EMBASSY EXPLOSION

The CIA and local Peruvian police are investigating the explosion near the US Embassy in Lima, Peru, which killed at least nine people yesterday. The bomb follows a grenade attack on a church in Karachi where the wife of a US diplomat and his daughter were killed. The CIA is unsure if the attack was linked to al-Qaida or local terrorist/drugs gangs. They are satisfied however, that the timing of the blast, does coincide with President Bush’s visit to Lima tomorrow.

20 MARCH: IAEA DIRTY BOMB INVESTIGATION PROVES NEGATIVE

Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have failed to conclusively prove that two boxes found by local men in Lja, Georgia, believed to carry powerful radioactive containers, have fallen into the hands of terrorists. The boxes carried a highly potent isotope called strontium-90, that can be used to create the so-called ‘dirty bomb’.

Discovered by two men collecting firewood last December, who became dizzy within moments of touching the containers, the items are not thought to have been secured. The men, also developed burns, a clear sign the boxes contained radioactive substances.

When IAEA investigators tried to retrieve the containers, they had to turn back because of heavy snow.

20 MARCH 2002: FBI ‘MOST WANTED’ IS NOT THE REAL ANAS AL-LIBY

Eye Spy has learned that early media reports that al-Qaida terrorist, Anas al-Liby, alleged commander of the operations to blow up US embassies in Africa in 1998, has been arrested, are false. ‘Al-Liby’, who was arrested in in the North Africa, is being held by officials. However, it is now believed that the suspect is not al-Liby. This has still to be confirmed by Washington. Anas al-Liby, appears on the official FBI website as one of the “most wanted terrorists.”

18 MARCH: 1700 BRITISH TROOPS TO FIGHT AL-QAIDA & TALIBAN

Britain’s Defence Minister, Geoff Hoon, told Parliament, that 1700 British troops made up mostly of 45 Commando, will be deployed immediately to Afghanistan, following a request by Washington. The highly-trained soldiers will link up with a US brigade and be used solely to fight al-Qaida and Taliban forces who are believed to be reorganizing in Pakistan and elsewhere. Mr Hoon told ministers that is was likely the UK would suffer casulaties.

18 MARCH: 1700 BRITISH TROOPS TO FIGHT AL-QAIDA & TALIBAN

Britain’s Defence Minister, Geoff Hoon, told Parliament, that 1700 British troops made up mostly of 45 Commando, will be deployed immediately to Afghanistan, following a request by Washington. The highly-trained soldiers will link up with a US brigade and be used solely to fight al-Qaida and Taliban forces who are believed to be reorganizing in Pakistan and elsewhere. Mr Hoon told ministers that is was likely the UK would suffer casulaties.

18 MARCH: US DELTA FORCES KILL 14 AL-QAIDA FIGHTERS IN AMBUSH

US special forces waited in a mountain pass, some 45 miles from Gardez, after a CIA-controlled Predator drone observed a small convoy of al-Qaida fighters. US Delta forces killed 14 al-Qaida fighters, and captured at least two men alive - one is seriously injured.

18 MARCH: US CONFIRM 600 AL-QAIDA FIGHTERS KILLED

US officials have announced that the fierce fighting around the Shah-i- Kot valley has ended. Colonel Frank Wiercinski, a brigade commander from 101 Airborne Division said: “We definitely put a spike through their heart.” Operation Anaconda was seen as particularly treacherous, and the US suffered at least seven fatalities when a Chinook helicopter was struck and forced down. Afghanistan’s current leader, called the snow-capped mountains in the area, “the last isolated base of terrorism.”

Analysts believe more than 4,500 al-Qaida fighters and Taliban soldiers did escape across the border into Pakistan. This prompted a huge USAF leaflet-dropping exercise urging local people not to shelter fleeing fighters.

Hamid Karzai

17 MARCH 2002: US DIPLOMAT’S WIFE AND DAUGHTER KILLED

A grenade attack on a church service in the diplomatic sector of Islamabad, Pakistan, has left at least ten people dead and 45 injured. Two of those to die were the wife and daughter of a US diplomat. The attack is being linked to events in Afghanistan.

17 MARCH: BRITAIN REJECTS “AL-QAIDA SUSPECTS” LAWYER’S PLEA

The High Court ruled that English courts have no jurisdiction over the treatment of five suspect al-Qaida suspects, being held at Camp X-Ray, Cuba. British lawyers representing the men, had wanted the UK to intervene, but judge Richards ruled: “The rights and wrongs of treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are not matters for this court. It concerns political judgment.”

17 MARCH: PEARL SUSPECT THREATENS US CITIZENS WITH “MORE KIDNAPPINGS”

Omar Saeed Sheikh, the Briton believed to be behind the kidnapping of Wall Street journalist, Daniel Pearl, has told a court that if he is extradited to America to face charges, other US kidnappings and airliner hijacks would follow.

It is understood the CIA and FBI are closing in on many of Sheikh’s colleagues. Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency say Pearl was kidnapped by a gang of at least 15 people.

17 MARCH: GERMANY WILL NOT BACK US AND UK ATTACK ON IRAQ

Gerhard Schroder, the German Chancellor, has said unless the US and UK obtain a United Nations mandate on intervention and military action against Saddam Hussein, Germany will not support its allies. Already many Germans are anxious about its troops being used to help US forces in eastern Afghanistan.

• Thousands of Germans are expected to apply for conscientious objection status in the coming weeks.

17 MARCH: PENTAGON REVISE BIN-LADEN REWARD

After months of offering local Afghans a $25m reward for information leading to the arrest of Osama bin-Laden - and being fed a diet of disinformation and poor intelligence - US analysts are now offering a more logical and needy reward. Sheep, food, clothing and shelter. When Tommy Franks, overall US commander asked an Afghan farmer at Christmas what he would do with $25m, the man said the money might just pay for feeding his nine children. “Clearly the financial offering was simply too much to understand for people desperately trying to cope with a multitude of hardships,” said one intelligence official.

15 MARCH: MI5 AND MI6 OFFICIALS TRAIN GEORGIA SECURITY TO HELP FIGHT AL-QAIDA

MI5 and MI6 intelligence officers are helping to train Georgian security forces in their fight against al-Qaida terrorists known to be reforming in the country. Eye Spy has also learned that a number of troops belonging to US Special Forces have arrived in Georgia to track the al-Qaida fighters.

15 MARCH 2002: US CHARGE SUSPECT WITH PEARL KILLING

A New Jersey judge filed charges against the main su