Kill Bill: Bomb plot revealed

Reuters

PLOT TO KILL: The former US president was just minutes from being killed by a bomb planted by Osama bin Laden's men, according to a new book.

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Bill Clinton came within minutes of being killed by Osama bin Laden in 1996 when a bomb was placed under a bridge during a trip to the Philippines, according to a new book.

The then US president was in Manila to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.

The assassination was foiled when the Secret Service picked up coded radio messages using the words ''bridge'' and ''wedding'' - a terrorist's code word for assassination - just as Mr Clinton was on his way to a meeting.

Mr Clinton's route was diverted away from a bridge, which was later found to have been planted with explosives.

An investigation into the plot ''revealed that it had been masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan - a man named Osama bin Laden''.

The claims are made in The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs Starr by Ken Gormley, an American law professor.

Professor Gormley says the former director of the Secret Service was his source.

The Secret Service has refused to comment on the claims.

Al-Qaeda members have admitted targeting Mr Clinton in the 1990s, but this is the first time suggestions have emerged that Bin Laden was involved or that the terrorists went close to succeeding. Professor Gormley says the plot was kept top secret until now.

Media reports about attempted bombings at the time were linked to local communist insurgents, not a bid by Islamic militants to kill the US president.

The report could have ramifications for the widely held assumption that the Bush regime could not have anticipated the September 11 attacks.

- © Fairfax NZ News