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05/08/2003 Archived Entry: "Paper: al-Qaida planning massive attack"

BAD NEWS ON THE WAY?: London-based magazine Al Majalla reports in an issue to appear tomorrow that al-Qaida has a new spokesman and has completely reconstituted itself.

The claims were based on e-mail interviews conducted this week by the London-based magazine Al Majalla with al-Qaida spokesman Thabet bin Qais, the magazine reports in an issue to appear Friday.

The magazine provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the story.

"The Americans only have predictions and old intelligence left," the magazine quoted bin Qais as saying. "It will take them a long time to understand the new form of al-Qaida."

The magazine quoted bin Qais as saying al-Qaida remains "way ahead of the Americans and its allies in the intelligence war, and American security agencies still are ignorant of the changes the leadership has made."

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were aware of the report and that bin Qais has been authorized in the past to communicate messages on behalf of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. The officials cautioned, however, that e-mail interviews can be difficult to authenticate.