Arrests reach 150 in pursuit of bin Laden network; link seen between one hijacker, earlier attack

By KAREN GULLO
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Authorities have arrested 150 terrorist suspects linked to Osama bin Laden's network, President Bush said Thursday. Evidence emerged that one of the Sept. 11 hijackers had taken part in earlier terror attacks against Americans.

Agents also released new photos and details about the last hours of two hijacking suspects who flew from Maine to Boston, where they boarded a flight that was crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers.

Bush said U.S. and overseas authorities have rounded up 150 people believed to be part of bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Bin Laden, a fugitive Saudi millionaire, is the prime suspect in the attacks on New York and Washington.

The British government, meanwhile, said at least three of the 19 suspected hijackers had links to al-Qaida and one had played a key role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa and the USS Cole.

Bin Laden was indicted in the United States for the embassy bombings and is suspected of masterminding the USS Cole attack.

The British report released by Prime Minister Tony Blair did not name the hijackers. The Associated Press has reported that two suspected hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, met with a bin Laden associate believed to be involved in the Cole attack in January 2000 in Malaysia.

The British report also said that a senior bin Laden associate oversaw the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. officials have told the AP that Mohamed Atta, suspected of flying one of the planes that crashed in New York, wired money to Shayk Saiid, believed to be bin Laden's top money man.

Officials said there is no evidence that the anthrax case in Florida was the result of terrorism. A 63-year-old Lantana, Fla., man was hospitalized with the often-lethal disease on Tuesday.

Fears about chemical or biological attacks surfaced after investigators learned that one of the hijackers had sought information about crop-dusting planes in Florida. The FBI is looking into the case, but officials stressed that anthrax can be contracted naturally – spores can be found in soil and are carried by some livestock.

In Maine the FBI released photos of Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari taken from surveillance videos at an ATM, a gas station and a Wal-Mart just hours before they boarded a commuter flight in Portland. Their flight linked up with one of the jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center.

The FBI hoped the photos would generate tips from Portland residents who may have seen the two men, who were in town the night before the attacks.

In other developments:

– A Saudi pilot has been released on bond three weeks after being taken into custody at Kennedy International Airport. Abdulaziz M. Alangari, who flies with Saudi Arabian Airlines, was arrested Sept. 13 on a material witness warrant. A lawyer for the Saudi embassy said authorities don't think Alangari is involved in the attacks.

– A man suspected of being involved in the plot was arrested in Mauritania. Mouhamedou Ould Slahi had been under surveillance in Canada for suspected links to the foiled millennium attacks.

– Maryland authorities sent the FBI a list of 212 arrested or suspected cigarette smugglers to investigate whether any may have engaged in the activities to help raise money for terrorist activities.

AP-WS-10-04-01 1832EDT