World News 20-08-2002 CNN Discovers Terrorist Poison Gas Test who: CNN what: Aquires video tapes showing test of chemical weapon where: Afghanistan when: Yesterday snippet: CNN has uncovered video tapes apparently showing al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan testing poison gas on dogs, reports The Financial Times. Philip Reeker, spokesman for the US State Department, says that "they appear to be indicative of the lethal threat posed by the al-Qaeda network" and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called them a "vivid illustration of what terrorism means". "The tapes, some of which were aired yesterday, show al-Qaeda operatives appear to be practising ambushes and kidnapping operations," says The Scotsman. "Most of the tapes appear to have been made before 11 September, although some show television coverage of the attacks in New York and Washington." In one clip broadcast by CNN, a man dressed in Afghan clothes "drops something on the floor of a hut near where a white puppy has been tied up," says The Guardian. "A white liquid can be seen seeping across the floor. The puppy gets up and seems to have trouble breathing, then its legs give way and it collapses, whimpering as it loses consciousness." "CNN said some of the tapes were in effect video training manuals for terrorists," reports The Independent, "and were quite different from the al-Qa`ida promotional videos that have been released in the past. One three-hour tape, for instance, shows the techniques required to make purified TNT from easy-to-obtain materials." [... more]

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