'Bill secretly visited Pak fearing assassination'

Washington, Sep 30: A book claimed that fearing assassination in the hands of Al Qaeda, the then United States President Bill Clinton in an unmarked plane made a secret landing to Pakistan in Mar 2000.

"He felt bad for the pilots who flew an empty decoy plane with the markings of Air Force One, but this nerve-racking mission was their job," said the Pulitzer Prize- Winning author and historian Taylor Branch in his book 'The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President'.

"Clinton landed secretly off-schedule in an unmarked plane, taking with him the smallest functional entourage 'consistent with the dignity of the United States'," wrote Branch.

Based on hard intelligence reports, Branch said, Clinton agreed to cancel a part of his trip to South Asia.

"He had agreed late to cancel one stop in Bangladesh -- a helicopter trip to the village of Joypura--because of hard intelligence that Osama bin Laden had lined up the route with (al-Qaida) assassins," the book said.

"Then, said the President, his security team activated its most elaborate precautions."

OneIndia News