UN on terror alert
2004-08-02 19:35
New York - The United Nations has put more stringent security measures in place, following US warnings that al-Qaeda plans new attacks in New York and Washington, a UN spokesperson said on Monday.
"On the advice of the New York City police department, we have further tightened our security measures over this past weekend," said Fred Eckhard, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's spokesperson.
He declined, however, to describe the measures being undertaken to protect the organisation's New York headquarters.
The UN headquarters has been on the list of terrorist targets since the first attack against the World Trade Centre in 1993.
More than 4 000 people work at the UN headquarters on a daily basis.
The number of people would increase by several thousands more when the UN general assembly begins its annual session in mid-September.
Financial institutions
The US department of homeland security on Sunday increased the alert level to "high" from "elevated" for financial institutions in Washington, New York and New Jersey, citing intelligence of an al-Qaeda plot to use car or truck bombs.
Police conducted extra patrols on Monday around the threatened institutions, which include the World Bank and International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington and the Citigroup buildings in New York and the New York stock exchange.
In New York, trucks and vans were banned from bridges and tunnels leading to the financial district in Lower Manhattan, and anti-terror teams with sniffer dogs stopped and searched vehicles around Wall Street.