Signs indicate al-Qaida revival

WASHINGTON -- Leaders and operatives of al-Qaida have reorganized bases of operations in at least a half-dozen locations, including Kenya, Sudan, Pakistan and Chechnya, senior counterterrorism officials said on Friday.

The leaders have begun to recruit new members, train the new followers and plan new attacks on Western targets in earnest, according to senior counterterrorism officials in Washington, Europe and the Middle East.

As evidence of this, senior government officials pointed to the secret arrests in the United States in the past two months of two Arab men suspected of having been sent by senior leaders of al-Qaida to scout targets for new terror attacks.

The two recently apprehended men, whom the officials would not identify, were said to be conducting "pre-surveillance" activities. They were part of a larger group of about six al-Qaida followers arrested in recent months whose presence in the United States has led the authorities to conclude that the terrorist group remains determined to carry out attacks on American soil, officials said.

The previously undisclosed arrests, along with the deadly bombings in Saudi Arabia this week that bear the earmarks of al-Qaida, provided what officials in the United States and overseas said were strong indications that Osama bin Laden's network remained a potent threat in the United States and overseas, despite setbacks like the capture in March of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the network's senior operational commander.

"Definitely their capability has been eroded," said one senior government official, discussing al-Qaida's ability to carry out attacks. "But they are still a threat, they are still sophisticated, they are still fighting and they are still trying to strike in the United States."

Although al-Qaida's role in the Riyadh bombings Monday night has not yet been confirmed, senior counterterrorism officials interviewed this week in the United States and Europe said they suspected the Saudi attacks marked the group's resurgence from a period of dormancy that began with the American invasion of Iraq two months ago.

The officials cited troubling signs that al-Qaida had opened new training outposts in East Africa and energized its recruitment efforts.

They also said there was new intelligence indicating that al- Qaida was in the final planning stages of new attacks, possibly involving aircraft. Britain and the United States issued stark warnings this week about possible terror strikes in Saudi Arabia and East Africa.

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