'30 fighters at large in US'

Up to 30 al Qaeda terrorists could be hiding in the US ready to carry out suicide attacks. The startling revelation comes in the indictment against John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban who was captured in Afghanistan.

The document says that by last summer Osama bin Laden had sent 50 terrorists on 20 suicide missions against America and Israel. Twenty of those can be accounted for by the 19 hijackers involved in the 11 September attacks and the socalled 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui, who was in prison on the day of the attacks.

No indication is given as to the whereabouts of the other 30 terrorists. However, the implication is that they could be at large in the US and Israel - and ready to strike at any moment.

Lindh was indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts, including conspiracy to kill Americans in Afghanistan. He is accused of knowing about the existence of the suicide missions while he trained in a terror camp in Afghanistan, where he met Bin Laden.

According to the indictment: "In or about June and July 2001 Lindh remained at the al-Farooq terrorist camp and participated fully in its training activities, after having been told early in his stay at the camp that Bin Laden had sent some 50 people to carry out 20 suicide terrorist operations against the United States and Israel."

The indictment adds new charges to ones already mentioned in the US complaint against Lindh. They include conspiracy to contribute services to the former Taliban regime and to the al Qaeda network, as well as using and carrying firearms and destructive devices during crimes of violence.

"John Walker Lindh chose to train with al Qaeda, chose to fight with the Taliban, chose to be led by Osama bin Laden," Attorney General John Ashcroft told reporters in Washington. "The reasons for his choices may never be fully known to us, but the fact of these choices is clear."

Lindh had already been charged on conspiracy to murder US citizens. The new charges hold that he was trained by Bin Laden's terror network and then conspired to kill Americans. The charges carry penalties of three life terms plus six additional 10-year sentences and another 30 years.

The indictment says that after the 11 September attacks, Lindh remained with his fighting group "despite having been told that Bin Laden had ordered the attacks, that additional terrorist attacks were planned and that more al Qaeda personnel were being sent from training camps to the front lines".

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