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Josy Joseph in New Delhi
The Indian military top brass has passed on to the political establishment an intelligence intercept indicating that supporters of Saudi millionaire turned terrorist Osama bin Laden would now try and attack the White House in Washington.
Reliable sources said the intercept of a conversation between two supporters of bin Laden indicated that his attack on the United States may not be over yet.
The intercept has been passed on to Defence and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, and is likely to be discussed at the highest level, probably by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The information will be shared with the US, sources said.
Reliable analysts within the government agreed that bin Laden's macho talk now "could be an attempt to show himself as the courageous leader of anti-American gatherings, despite the heat building on him".
But the maverick that bin Laden is, "it could be a real warning" too, that the attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon "may not be the end of it all".
Sources said the intercept of the conversation between two Islamic fundamentalists, known to Indian intelligence as being close to bin Laden, centred on the attack of September 11.
In the course of the conversation it was revealed that the extremists were planning to strike the White House "immediately". The time frame they were talking about was a couple of days.
There is, however, no independent confirmation of the reliability of the intercept.
The information would be shared with the US authorities, officials said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has already written formally to Indian intelligence agencies seeking their inputs on Osama bin Laden.
The Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and other Indian intelligence agencies are of the opinion that the attack could not have been carried out "by just bin Laden; there would [have been] institutionalised support to the attack".
A senior intelligence official said the US should investigate if some states or its agencies were also involved in the attacks.
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