Bin Laden enlists al-Zarqawi for U.S. attacks, report says

WASHINGTON — New intelligence indicates that Osama bin Laden is enlisting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has claimed responsibility for many of the car bombings, assassinations and kidnappings in Iraq, to plan potential attacks on the United States, federal officials said yesterday.

Events in Iraq, officials noted, have limited al-Zarqawi's ability to undertake attacks elsewhere.

The Homeland Security Department issued a classified bulletin to officials over the weekend about the intelligence, which spokesman Brian Roehrkasse described as "credible but not specific." The intelligence was obtained over the past several weeks, the officials said.

The government has no immediate plans to raise its national terror-alert level, Roehrkasse said. But, he said, the intelligence "reiterates the desire by al-Qaida and its associates to target the homeland."

Bin Laden was in contact with al-Zarqawi within the past two months in an effort to enlist him in attacks, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, is thought to communicate by courier and taped messages.