Via Daily Mail:
The global terror alert that brought the closure of 19 U.S. embassies across the Muslim world was the result of a secret message the head of al Qaeda in Pakistan sent to his counterpart in Yemen ordering him to launch a strike, two security officials revealed today.
A U.S. intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat said electronic communications were picked up several weeks ago between Ayman al-Zawahri – the head of the global terror network who succeeded Osama bin Laden – and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Officials had previously called the communication ‘strategically significant’ and likened the intelligence ‘chatter’ to that intercepted in the days leading up to 9/11.
‘This was significant because it was the big guys talking, and talking about very specific timing for an attack or attacks,’ one American official briefed on the intelligence reports told the New York Times.
The news comes as the State Department extended the closure of 19 embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East for the rest of the week amid fears of a ‘big’ and ‘strategically significant’ terrorist attack.
The two officials said the target has not been revealed but was significant in that it is extremely rare for senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan to discuss operational matters with the group’s affiliates.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly.
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