WASHINGTON, 10 March 2003 — The CIA has issued a warning that members of the Al-Qaeda network in Iraq are planning to attack US forces should they invade, a US official familiar with the warning said on Saturday.

The warning came in a two-page report based on recent intelligence that was provided to policymakers within the last week, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The report said Al-Qaeda operatives may try to hide among Iraqi civilians in an effort to get close enough to launch an attack. It said US forces could be at risk of attacks with either conventional explosives or unspecified toxins.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the assessment, which was first reported by the New York Times on its website.

The official said the assessment pointed to one Al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad and others in northern Iraq. It said the cells were organized by Abu Musab Zarqawi, who the United States says is an associate of Osama Bin Laden.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said last month that Zarqawi was active in Iraq and argued that was a sign Iraq was harboring Al-Qaeda.

“Iraq harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda lieutenant,” Powell told the UN Security Council on Feb. 5.

While the Bush administration has alleged there are links between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda, critics of the administration’s policy have said the ties are not clear.

The official said it was believed the attacks were being planned independently and not in connection with the Iraqi military.

Meanwhile, US News and World Report reported Saturday the recent arrest in Pakistan of top Al-Qaeda lieutenant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the result of months of tracking the terrorist’s 10 cell phones by the US Echelon spy system.

His March 1 capture by US and Pakistani police has yielded “some of the best intelligence in years” about the terrorist network, the news weekly said in an advance of its Monday edition. It quoted a high-level official as saying the US National Security Agency’s Echelon surveillance system was used to monitor more than 10 cellphone numbers Mohammed used.

“The Echelon system links phone numbers and voices and can locate these phones by triangulating with cellphone sites and satellites, said the weekly.

“They were tracking him for some time,” the official was quoted as saying. “He would shift, they would follow.”

Computers, documents and cellphones seized during his arrest have revealed, among other things, that Iran is sheltering more than 100 of the network’s operatives, the magazine reported.

“There are an increasing number of key Al-Qaeda leaders hiding out in Iran, where local officials generally have been unwilling to hand over suspects to the United States and its allies,” it said.

Mohammed, who was Al-Qaeda’s operations chief, was in direct and frequent contact with Bin Laden, according to the magazine.