Washington raises terror alert
2004-08-01 19:09
Washington - US authorities on Sunday increased the terrorist alert threat level in Washington to "high" following a new warning by New York police of a possible al-Qaeda attack, CNN television reported.
The alert follows the arrest of a Pakistani-origin woman in Texas last week after she illegally crossed the Mexican border with a false South African passport, $7 000 dollars in cash and a plane ticket for New York, media reports said.
Four pages of the passport had been torn out.
A federal law enforcement official told The New York Times the woman, Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, 48, might have been a courier sent to deliver a message or documents to someone in the United States.
"The concern was that she may be part of a team" planning attacks, a New York law enforcement official told the Times.
Second highest alert
There was no immediate confirmation by the homeland security department, but homeland security secretary Tom Ridge was to hold a news conference at 18:00 GMT.
The security advisory has been raised from "elevated" to "high" which is the second highest level on the nationwide terrorist alert.
The highest level is "severe".
New York police issued a statement on Saturday night highlighting intelligence that al-Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 attacks, was planning new strikes.
New York has been on a "high" alert ever since it was the main target of the 9/11 attacks when airliners hijacked by al-Qaeda members slammed into the World Trade Centre towers, leaving almost 3 000 dead.
The New York police department (NYPD) said in a statement released late on Saturday that "intelligence reporting indicates that al-Qaeda continues to target for attack commercial and financial institutions, as well as international organisations, inside the United States."
The statement called on managers of buildings to be alert for unannounced maintenance workers and deliveries.
Police warned building managers and corporate security personnel to watch for vehicles that could be rigged with explosives and for chemical agents placed in ventilation
systems. - AFP/Sapa-dpa
- AFP