Letters from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, released in a de-classified report today, show that top al-Qaida leadership debated the use of chlorine gas in terrorist attacks.
The release of the letters coincides with reports of a strong chlorine smell in Tel Aviv, Israel, sparking fears of a chemical-based attack. Israeli officials have not identified the source of the smell, but do not believe the amount of chlorine in the area is a significant danger.
Dated March 28, 2007, the letter about using chlorine gas was written by an unnamed person “of Egyptian origin” to a legal scholar associated with bin Laden, according to the scholars at the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC).
“We need guidance from you on the issue of using chlorine gas technology,” he wrote to bin Laden’s legal scholar, Hafiz Sultan, in the wake of chlorine gas attacks in Iraq that sickened hundreds of people, including Iraqis. The author, who CTC says “appears not to support” using chlorine gas because of the collateral damage, told Sultan that other al-Qaida affiliates have debated using chlorine gas on “the forces of the apostates.”
The author put a hold on this tactic pending approval from bin Laden’s compound.
You can read the full letter below.
