British intelligence has captured documents belonging to Al-Qaeda that talk about a plan to set forest fires, WorldNetDaily.com has reported. The plan reportedly calls for creating a “global fireball” by causing fires in the U.S., Europe, South America and Australia, causing massive environmental and economic damage.

The documents were found along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and were written by Abu Musab al-Suri, an Al-Qaeda operative, who has been reported to be in U.S. custody since 2005.

The Age recently reported that a radical Islamic group called the Al-Ikhals Network posted on a web site a call for the lighting of forest fires in the U.S., Europe, Russia and Australia. The report also said that al-Suri had suggested using sulphuric acid and petrol to start the fires.

WorldTribune.com also reported on the threat, and added that an FBI alert in 2003 stated that a captured Al-Qaeda operative said the organization had planned to use timed devices to start fires in the United States, naming Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Utah as specific targets.

The plans to attack the United States by lighting forest fires aren’t new, and have been frequently discussed on radical Islamic web sites and forums, according to Douglas J. Hagmann of the Northeast Intelligence Network.

“In 2003, we began seen directives posted on Internet forums—instructional posts to terrorists in this country to actually start fires in the US to weaken our infrastructure and deplete our resources,” Hagmann wrote on Northeast Intelligence Network’s web site.

“After all, arson is easier than hijacking planes, and can be more deadly and costly. The fires last year at this time in Southern California cost more than $1 billion in lost property and displaced more than a million people, the greatest evacuation California has ever seen [emphasis in original],” he wrote.

“The massive Santiago Canyon Fire caused an estimated $10 million in damage alone. The cause of many fires in the southwestern U.S. last year was arson, and those who started some of the fires have yet to be identified or caught.”

By Ryan Mauro