Britons warned to stay alert for al-Qaida plot

Britons in the US have been warned to stay vigilant after counter-terrorism officials revealed they were investigating an unconfirmed al-Qaida threat to bomb New York or Washington on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Sep 2011, 07:00 BST

US authorities confirmed they had received “credible” and “specific” intelligence of an “active plot” to use a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in one of the two cities targeted in 2001, when almost 3,000 people were killed.

Police in New York and Washington said they would increase their staffing levels in response to the threat as it was revealed law enforcement officials were pursuing three suspects thought to be either travelling to the US or to have recently entered the country.

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In Britain, the Foreign Office yesterday amended its travel advice for the US to read: “In light of the publicity surrounding the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we remind British nationals of the global threat of terrorism and need to remain vigilant.”

US Vice President Joe Biden said the tip had come from a credible source but there was no confirmation that anyone had travelled to the country to carry out the plot.

“There’s no certitude,” he said. “The thing we are all most worried about is what they call a ‘lone ranger,’ a lone actor, not some extremely complicated plan like it took to take down the World Trade towers.”

The head of the FBI’s New York division, Janice Fedarcyk, explained: “There is specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information.”

A US official said the source of the terror tip indicated that al-Qaida’s new leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, was behind the planning for the anniversary terror plot.