Hunting al Qaida

Washington, D.C.

As many as 5,000 people lurking in the U.S. may be linked to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida network, The Washington Times reported last week. The estimate appeared in classified intelligence reports, and represents a jump from earlier assessments that put the number of U.S.-based al Qaida members and sympathizers in the hundreds. American intelligence agencies have groups of suspected terrorists under surveillance in Seattle, Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a senate committee that there were probably many other “sleeper terrorists” in hiding, “waiting to strike again.”