US stops al-Qa'ida 'dirty bomb' attack on Washington

The FBI disrupted an al-Qa'ida plot led by an American citizen to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in Washington as Moroccan authorities announced they had arrested terrorist suspects, accused of planning suicide attacks on British and US warships.

The US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, said agents from the bureau had arrested Abdullah al-Muhajir, 31, as he arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Pakistan on what was meant to be a reconnaissance trip.

Mr Muhajir ­ who changed his name from Jose Padilla after converting from Catholicism to Islam while in prison ­ had apparently been taking his orders directly from Abu Zubeida, the senior al-Qa'ida lieutenant being groomed to take over the leadership from Osama bin Laden.

Plans for the attack were discovered on Mr Muhajir when he landed. "We know from multiple independent and corroborating sources that Abdullah al-Muhajir was closely associated with al-Qa'ida and ... was involved in planning future terrorist attacks on innocent American civilians," Mr Ashcroft said.

In Morocco, police said they had broken up a terrorist cell with links to al-Qa'ida with the detention of three Saudi Arabian nationals.

The unnamed men, holding Saudi passports, were arrested last month. They were said by Moroccan officials to have been plotting operations against British and US naval vessels patrolling the Strait of Gibraltar.

News of Mr Muhajir's arrest on 8 May comes against a backdrop of continuing tension in the US in the wake of reports that al-Qa'ida is planning further attacks.

The Moroccan authorities last night said they had thwarted an attempt by three alleged Saudi members of the terror group to target British and American warships in the Straits of Gibraltar.

The men, who were arrested last month in a joint operation with unnamed Western security agencies, had plotted to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives into shipping lanes to blow up military vessels, officials said.

Last month, the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said it was "inevitable" that terrorists would obtain weapons of mass destruction. There has also been a wave of criticism that the Bush administration failed to detect clues that al-Qa'ida was planning the attacks of 11 September. Given that, the administration seized on Mr Muhajir's arrest as major breakthrough. While officials admitted his plot was only in its very early stages, they said that Mr Muhajir, who was born in Brooklyn, had received training in explosives, wiring and "radioactive dispersal devices".

"We have a man detained who is a threat to the country and that thanks to the vigilance of our intelligence gathering and law enforcement he is now off the streets, where he should be," said President George Bush, as he broke from a meeting in Washington with Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.

While it is not certain Mr Muhajir was planning to detonate the device in the nation's capital, the Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, said he "did indicate knowledge of the Washington DC area". Experts agree that while a dirty bomb may not be very destructive in physical terms, it would have huge psychological impact.

Having been held for a month on a federal warrant, Mr Muhajir was named an "enemy combatant" and passed to the custody of the military yesterday ­ a move that will enable the authorities to hold him as long as they want without charge.

Officials said Mr Muhajir, a former street gang member, trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also met Mr Zubeida, formerly al-Qa'ida's director of operations, who is in US custody.