Terror]New Information On Al Qaida Surfaces
New Information On Al Qaida Surfaces
United Press International
A share of the intelligence that led to the increase in anti-terrorism security in the United States was reportedly updated just months ago by al-Qaida.
The Los Angeles Times said Tuesday surveillance files from Pakistan plus other information collected by the United States meshed well enough to trigger the alerts on the East Coast.
Homeland Security officials described the intelligence as alarming over the weekend; however, sources told the Washington Post and New York Times it was months old.
Several officials told the Post much of the information found on a laptop computer seized in Pakistan was obtained through sources available to the general public months before Sept. 11, 2001.
Other sources told the LA Times new intelligence corroborated the theory militants were plotting strikes in New York, Washington and New Jersey. In addition, the newspaper said, there was evidence al-Qaida had its evil eye on the Bank of American building in San Francisco.
British intelligence officials say U.S. financial institutions in London have been targeted for terror attacks by al-Qaida, The Times of London said Tuesday. The information came from a cache of coded e-mails found on a computer belonging to an al-Qaida suspect living in Pakistan. The information prompted the U.S. government to raise its security alert status for New York, Washington, and Newark, N.J.
The British government responded immediately to the intelligence by convening a session of the emergency coordinating unit known as Cobra.
The newspaper said after the meeting, Scotland Yard cautioned high-profile U.S. institutions such as Citigroup, which is based in one of the twin towers of Canary Wharf, and the Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, which have headquarters in London.
The coded messages note traffic patterns, possible escape routes and details about the number of security guards, their shift change times and whether they are armed.
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