Egypt Warned U.S. of a Qaeda Plot, Mubarak Asserts


CAIRO, June 3 — Egyptian intelligence warned American officials about a week before Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden's network was in the advance stages of executing a significant operation against an American target, President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview on Sunday.

Using a secret agent they had recruited who was in close contact with the bin Laden organization, Mr. Mubarak said, his intelligence chiefs tried unsuccessfully to halt the operation.

Mr. Mubarak said his intelligence officials had no indication what the target would be and had no idea of the magnitude of the coming attack.

"We didn't know that such a thing could take place," he said, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks. "We thought it was an embassy, an airplane, something, the usual thing."