Homeland Security: Bin Laden’s death could inspire retaliatory attacks in and out of US

5/2/2011

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department says the death of Osama bin Laden could inspire retaliatory attacks against the U.S. and Western targets.

The department’s “situational awareness alert,” obtained by The Associated Press, says the attacks could come from members of al-Qaida’s core branch in the tribal areas of Pakistan, al-Qaida franchises in other countries and radicalized individuals in the U.S. with al-Qaida sympathies. The document was marked “for official use only” and is not finished intelligence.

The alert, issued Sunday, says the U.S. intelligence community doesn’t currently have insight into al-Qaida’s choice of U.S. targets.