A declassified CIA brief from 1998 said Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden intended to conduct attacks in India and several other countries. The release offers a fresh look at the reach of al-Qaida's network before 9/11, but names no specific target in India.

The CIA on Friday released more than 70 presidential intelligence briefs linked to bin Laden, with more than 100 pages of materials, to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Centre in New York City in 2001.

The CIA on Friday released more than 70 presidential intelligence briefs linked to bin Laden, with more than 100 pages of materials, to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Centre in New York City in 2001.

CIA documents reveal that Osama bin Laden had considered targeting India and several other countries, while repeatedly warning US presidents between 1998 and 2001 about potential terrorist attacks.

Drawn from daily intelligence briefings given to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, CIA Director John Ratcliffe called it “the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever.”

The timing carries a grim postscript: a little over three years after the 1998 briefing was written, India experienced its own major terrorist strike when armed attackers stormed the Parliament complex in New Delhi on 13 December 2001 — an assault that, while not attributed to al-Qaeda, unfolded against a backdrop the CIA's own files show had already flagged India as a country in the terror network's sights.