WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Before he was captured last spring, Osama bin Laden's top operational commander planned to assassinate U.S. President George Bush, it was reported Friday.
The New York Daily News said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also was a target in the plot.
The capture last May of al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Abu Faraj Al-Libi, apparently thwarted plots to assassinate the two partners in the global war on terror, according to a senior Pakistani official. His information was reported corroborated by two senior U.S. counterterrorism officials.
"Al-Libi had one mission: Kill Bush and Musharraf," the Pakistani official told the Daily News. "He wanted to kill Bush in the White House, preferably."
"It was clearly something they wanted to do. It's the holy grail of jihad," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed.
Al-Libi organized several assassination attempts on Musharraf before he was nabbed, officials have said. But the plot to kill Bush was only disclosed this week.
