WASHINGTON, D.C.

FBI bulletin says al-Qaida may target VA hospitals

Al-Qaida may attempt to attack Veterans Affairs hospitals as an alternative to more heavily guarded U.S. military installations, the FBI and Homeland Security Department warn in a new nationwide terrorism bulletin.

Although U.S. authorities say there is no credible intelligence regarding a specific threat against such hospitals, the bulletin said there had been persistent reports of “suspicious activity” at medical facilities throughout the United States.

That includes “possible reconnaissance activities” this year at unspecified military medical facilities in Bethesda, Md., and Aurora, Colo., the bulletin said. Even though later investigation of these two incidents uncovered no links to terrorism, the bulletin urges vigilance at VA hospitals on the part of police and security personnel.

The Department of Veterans Affairs operates 163 hospitals in the United States, with at least one in each of the 48 contiguous states.

North Carolina

Ex-CIA contractor accused of beating Afghan released

A former CIA contractor charged with beating an Afghan detainee who later died was released from custody Friday pending his trial on assault charges.

David A. Passaro, 38, had been jailed since his arrest in June. He was charged June 17 with four counts of assault stemming from the beating of Abdul Wali at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan in June 2003. Wali later died.

Passaro, a former Green Beret, walked out of the federal courthouse after a brief hearing at which U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle reviewed the conditions for release, which include an electronic monitoring device. Federal prosecutors had sought unsuccessfully to delay the release until they had a complete set of papers putting Passaro’s home up as security.

Sudan

Hijackers force plane to land before surrendering to police

Armed with knives, Eritrean deportees hijacked a plane that left Libya carrying about 80 fellow Eritreans and forced it to land Friday in the Sudanese capital before surrendering to security forces, officials said.

Libyan officials said the plane departed the southeastern city of al-Kafra late Thursday carrying about 80 Eritrean and 145 Nigerian deportees.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said the plane, a Libyan-owned C-130, first stopped in the Nigerian city of Lagos to return the Nigerians before leaving for Eritrea with the remaining deportees. After take off from Lagos, four Eritreans armed with knives forced the pilot to fly to Khartoum.

The hijackers told the crew they didn’t want to return to Eritrea for “political reasons,” Shalqam told The Associated Press in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.