NY bomb plot details emerge

2005-10-08 10:52

New York - Details emerged about an alleged plot to attack the New York City subway system with bombs hidden in bags and possibly baby strollers as local and federal officials disputed the credibility of the threat.

A US Department of Homeland Security memo said the attack was reportedly scheduled to take place on or around Sunday, with terrorists using timed or remote-controlled explosives hidden in briefcases, suitcases or in or under strollers.

The memo said that the department had received information indicating the attack might be carried out by "a team of terrorist operatives, some of whom may travel or who may be in the New York City area."

The memo, issued on Wednesday to state and local officials, said that Homeland Security and FBI agents doubted the credibility of the information, but it provided four pages of advice about averting a possible attack.

In Iraq, authorities detained a third suspect in the plot and investigated whether a fourth had travelled to New York as part of the scheme, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case.

The official said the man's trip to New York was described by an informant who had spent time in Afghanistan and proved reliable in past investigations. But the official added that authorities had not confirmed whether the fourth man even exists.

Those arrested had received explosives training in Afghanistan, the law enforcement official said on Friday. They had planned to travel through Syria to New York, and then meet with operatives to carry out the bombings.

A federal official said one of the suspects arrested in Iraq apparently told interrogators that more than a dozen people were involved in the plot, and that they were of various nationalities, including Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis.

Homeland security officials in Washington downplayed the threat and said it was of "doubtful credibility."

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly vigorously defended their decision to discuss the threat publicly on Thursday.

"If I'm going to make a mistake you can rest assured it is on the side of being cautious," Bloomberg said at a news conference on Friday.

US President George W Bush, asked on Friday if he thought New York officials had overreacted, said: "I think they took the information we gave and made the judgments they thought were necessary."

- AP