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WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network planned to attack the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, using hijacked airliners, The Washington Times reported on Monday.

The potential targets included nuclear powered submarines and ships, the newspaper said.

Intelligence reports about the threat to the naval base were sent to senior U.S. officials in the past two weeks and coincided with reports that al Qaeda was planning a major attack, the newspaper reported.

The CIA had no immediate comment on the report. A spokesman for the Pentagon was not immediately available.

The newspaper said officials pointed to the intelligence reports as a factor in the U.S. government's decision earlier this month to raise the terror threat level to orange, or "high" risk of attack.

The terror threat level was lowered one notch on Thursday to yellow, or "elevated" risk of attack.

The Washington Times cited officials familiar with the intelligence reports as saying that al Qaeda was planning to take aim at Pearl Harbor because of its symbolic value. Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, which began the United States involvement in World War II.

The newspaper said another reason al Qaeda considered targeting Pearl Harbor was because its military facilities are open from the air.

Bin Laden's al Qaeda network was blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in which four hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing more than 3,000 people.

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