The Associated Press
Friday, Nov. 2, 2001; 1:19 p.m. EST

PRAGUE, Czech Republic –– Iraqi spies were plotting possible terrorist attacks on the headquarters of the U.S.-financed Radio Free Europe, Czech intelligence officials charged Friday.

The accusation came months after Iraqi consul Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani was expelled from Prague for spying. Czech officials had mentioned unspecified terrorist plots, but had not confirmed their targets.

"We can confirm that Radio Free Europe was at the center of attention by Iraqi services," said Jiri Ruzek, the head of the Czech intelligence service BIS. He would not elaborate.

Czech government officials had said earlier on condition of anonymity that Al-Ani may have been plotting an attack on Radio Free Europe.

Saddam Hussein's government has long complained about Radio Free Europe's broadcasts to Iraq. When the broadcasts began in 1998, the Baghdad government called the programing an "act of aggression" and vowed to halt all trade with the Czech Republic.

Ruzek said he had no new details on a meeting between Al-Ani and Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which Czech intelligence officers monitored several weeks before Al-Ani was expelled from the country on April 22.

Authorities in Baghdad denied this week that the meeting occurred.