Al-Qaeda Could Launch BW Attack, Interpol Warns

There exists a substantial threat of a biological weapons attack by al-Qaeda, the head of Interpol warned yesterday, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 4, 2004).

“The number of terrorist attacks that have occurred around the world and the evidence that has been seized revealing the kind of planning that al-Qaeda has done in the area of biological weapons or chemical weapons ... is enough evidence for me to be concerned about it,” said agency chief Ronald Noble.

“Anyone who is honest about this has to admit that if al-Qaeda launches a spectacular biological attack which could cause contagious disease to be spread, no entity in the world is prepared for it,” he added. “Not the U.S., not Europe, not Asia, not Africa.”

Interpol is scheduled to hold its largest-ever conference beginning Tuesday in Lyons, France, according to Reuters (Reuters, Feb. 23).

The conference is expected to focus on encouraging intelligence agencies and police departments to strengthen their cooperation and information sharing to better combat the bioterrorism threat, the BBC reported today (BBC News, Feb. 23).

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