THE senior Al-Qaeda terrorist captured by the Americans and transferred last week to Guantanamo Bay allegedly considered poisoning Britain’s water supply and attacking other utilities.

Poisoning water was one of a series of plots discussed by Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a former major in Saddam Hussein’s army. Others included attacking Heathrow, blowing up London Underground trains and assassinating VIPs, well-placed sources said.

The Pentagon disclosed last week that al-Hadi had been taken into CIA custody last year while he was on his way to Iraq. Intelligence officials believe he was intending to manage Al-Qaeda’s affairs there and possibly focus on operations against the West.

Last week The Sunday Times cited a leaked document prepared by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which is run by MI5, saying that he was calling for an attack on Britain. The document said al-Hadi wrote in a letter that he wanted a large-scale attack — “ideally” before Tony Blair steps down as prime minister this summer.

Sources familiar with MI5 reports on Al-Qaeda said yesterday that al-Hadi was also believed to have met two of the suicide bombers who attacked London on July 7, 2005, at a training camp in Pakistan in 2004.

The meeting was instrumental in pointing Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, two of the July 7 gang, towards a suicide attack on the London Tube.

“They were originally just recruiters and targeters for Al-Qaeda in Britain. Their initial role with Al-Qaeda was talent-spotting. But they were retasked after the meeting with al-Hadi,” one source said.

Al-Hadi’s importance in the Al-Qaeda leadership emerged after the capture in Pakistan in 2003 of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed is said to have described a series of “brain-storming” meetings at which the two Al-Qaeda planners discussed attacks on Britain.

“They talked about the sort of targets they were going to look at. These included the national transport system, the Underground network and Heathrow airport. They also examined targets such as the energy network and poisoning the water supply,” the source said.

MI5 officers have visited water companies to advise on improved vetting of employees and better physical protection of exposed reservoirs and plants.

Patrick Mercer MP, the former Tory security spokesman and expert on counter-terrorism said: “Our utilities, like the transport system, provide tempting targets. The authorities need to take proper measures to ensure they are adequately protected.”

John Reid, the home secretary, said last week that terrorists could try to attack critical national infrastructure. He said Al-Qaeda's aim was to “bleed us to bankruptcy” and warned of the “devastating consequences” of an Al-Qaeda attack on financial markets or energy supplies.

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