New York: Al-Qaida, the terrorist organisation headed by world's most wanted man Osama bin Laden, is said to have opened new training camps in Sudan, Kenya and some other parts of East Africa.

The 'New York Times' reported this on May 17. The paper attributed the report to counter-terrorism officials in Washington.

Besides, the report said, it is reorganising its bases in Pakistan and Chechnya. The paper claimed that terrorist organisation had even sent new scouts to the US to look for new targets.

It said that similar to 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre, al-Qaida was planning "to attack with an aircraft".

The report said the al-Qaida terrorists had been studying possible targets in the US, including gasoline trucks, suspension bridges and landmarks.

It quoted one Washington-based official as saying that al-Qaida currently had a total strength of 3,000 compared to 20,000 in 1990s. The report further said that there had been a decrease in the recruitment of youths in al-Qaida in recent times, especially after the US-led war on Iraq.

However, the report said, al-Qaida's recruitment potential was intact in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. According to it, the terrorist organisation was now focussing on reorganising itself into "smaller and more disciplined units".

The official further said al-Qaida's capability "has been definitely eroded". He added, "But they are still sophisticated; they are still fighting and they are still trying to strike in the US."

As a crackdown on al-Qaida's ill designs, during the past two months the US secret agents had successfully arrested two Arab men suspected of scouting targets for attacks.

ANI