New York on high alert after Qaeda bomb threat

New York, Aug 11: The New York Police Department (NYPD) has mobilised hundreds of anti-terrorism cops after a "dirty bomb" threat targeting the city surfaced on Internet, authorities said.

An Israeli-based Web site claimed that al Qaeda communications accused the US of failing to take seriously the videotaped message last Sunday of an American member of the terror group, who vowed to attack the "spy dens" of US and allied embassies throughout the Islamic world, police said.

The website claimed that New York would be attacked in the coming days "by means of trucks loaded with radioactive material against America's biggest city and financial nerve centre."

The threats were allegedly found in an exchange of messages over the terror group's internal Internet sites, the New York Post reported.

Taking precautions against the threats, officers were mobilised and checkpoints set up throughout the city to conduct searches and monitor suspicious activity.

"While the threat remains unverified, our counter-terrorism posture has been modified to include increased deployment of radiological sensors," said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

However, Browne stressed that the mobilisations were not a result of verified threats, and were strictly a precautionary matter.

The threats were made this week after a videotape released last Sunday by the American al Qaeda spokesman, Adam Gadahn, was not taken seriously enough by government officials.

In the tape, Gadahn - also known as "Azzam the American" - made threats that US embassies would be attacked.

ANI
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