'Clinton escaped assassination attempt by Osama'

Former United States President Bill Clinton had escaped an assassination bid by terrorists controlled by Osama bin Laden in Phillipines, according to a new book. He was saved shortly before his car was due to drive over a bridge in Manila where a bomb was planted.

The foiled attack came during Clinton's visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the city in 1996. The details have been revealed in a new book titled The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs Starr by Ken Gromley, an American law professor, who said he was told about the details of the bomb plot by Louis Merletti, a former director of the Secret Service.

'The Daily Telegraph' on Wednesday reported that at one point during his stay, Clinton was scheduled to visit a local politician in central Manila. His route was through a bridge. But as his motorcade was about to set off, secret service officers received a 'crackly message in one earpiece' saying intelligence agents had picked up a message suggesting an attack was imminent.

The transmission used the words 'bridge' and 'wedding' -- terrorists' code words for assassination. The motorcade was quickly re-routed and the US agents later discovered a bomb planted under the bridge.

The report said the subsequent US investigation into the plot "revealed that it was masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden".

Gromley said, "It remained top secret except to select members of the US intelligence community. At the time, there were media reports about the discovery of two bombs, one at Manila airport and another at the venue for the leaders' meeting.

However, they were linked to a communist insurgency in the Philippines rather than as an attempt to kill the US President. A spokesman for the Secret Service refused to comment on Professor Gorman's allegations, the report said.