New Delhi: The recent terrorist attacks in Riyadh and Casablanca seem to have emboldened al-Qaida which has heightened its recruitment drive and is "trying to develop explosives" which are harder to detect while boarding an aircraft, according to intelligence reports quoted by Pakistani media.

Quoting US counter-terrorism experts, Pak daily 'Dawn' said al-Qaida was "trying to develop explosives which are harder to detect, to be placed in shoes or luggage, and would be used to blow up a passenger aircraft.

"It is unlikely, the officials said, that a terrorist team would follow the example of the September 11 hijackers spending months in the US before a new attack. More probably, they would remain abroad until they choose the time to strike."

Pakistani intelligence officials, quoted by 'The Friday Times', said some al- Qaida cells had "regrouped and could likely mount terrorist attacks on the first anniversary (June 14) of the suicide bombing on the US Consulate building in Karachi."

Among the recent major arrest of al-Qaida activists included that of Tawfiq bin al-Attash, who was the mastermind of the 2000 bombing of American warship USS Cole. The raids in which al-Attash was caught also led to the capture of truckloads of explosives, which led the agencies in Pakistan to express surprise as to how could such a large amount of bomb-making materials be smuggled into the country

The intelligence officials, who interrogated al-Attash said, "We believe that he managed to establish a network of unspecified number of suicide attackers before getting arrested. We still don't have any leads to those potential attackers. So, his arrest has not eradicated the threat."

'The Friday Times' said the investigating officers "interestingly have refused to disclose how explosives in such large quantities could reach Karachi" from where al-Attash was arrested.

The 'Dawn' article also pointed towards a taped message in which the voice "widely agreed to be that of Osama bin Laden" described Morocco, Saudi Arabia, as well as Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan and Yemen as targets for 'martyrdom operations'.

It also quoted the annual strategic survey of the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies as saying that the Riyadh bombings had acted as an "inspiration" to the terrorists and though the US-led invasion of Iraq would have a "suppressive effect" on them, it was equally likely that the conflict "had increased al-Qaida's recruiting power".

The survey said, "Thanks to technology and the multinational allure of jihadism, the Afghanistan camps were now unnecessary. The only infrastructure al-Qaida required was safe houses to assemble bombs and weapons caches", adding that any bomber who was lost could easily be replaced as they were now a multinational force.

PTI