WASHINGTON (voa) – The U.S. Justice Department has released photos and videotape excerpts showing five suspected al-Qaida members suspected of planning future suicide attacks, and is asking the world to help locate and capture them.
Attorney General John Ashcroft screened the videotape Thursday showing three of the five suspects delivering what he said were martyrdom messages, the kind delivered before a suicide attack.
Mr. Ashcroft said the tapes found recently in Afghanistan do not indicate that any attacks are imminent. But the attorney general said the men may be preparing to commit attacks, and he said they could be anywhere in the world.
Mr. Ashcroft said authorities have identified four of the five suspects. The best-known suspect is Ramzi Binashibh, who is also wanted by authorities in Germany. The attorney general said little is known about the other four men.
The Justice Department says the three other identified al-Qaida suspects are Abd- Al-Rahim, Muhammad Sa’id Ali Hasan, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani. Al-Qaida is the terrorist network of Osama bin Laden, who is blamed by the United States blames for the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
The Justice Department has not set a reward but hopes anyone with information will contact authorities.
Mr. Ashcroft said the excerpts shown today come from five videotapes that were found by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan at the home of Mohammed Atef, who has been described as Osama bin Laden’s chief military operations officer. U.S. officials say Atef was killed in November by a U.S. bombing raid.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post newspaper reported that U.S. officials will begin searching for about six-thousand Middle Eastern men who disappeared in the United States after ignoring deportation orders. The newspaper said the men, some of whom have criminal records, come from nations Washington considers havens for al-Qaida members.
