DRUDGE -- SUBWAYS ON ALERT

KYW.com ^ | 6/7/02 | KYW in Philly

[Mean Spirited]

In an Eyewitness News exclusive, KYW has obtained an FBI terror alert on Friday, warning of a potential nerve gas attack against American subway systems.

On Thursday, the FBI issued the alert to state and local law enforcement officials – its an internal warning to cops around the nation, cautioning that al-Qaida supporters in the United States may use nerve gas to poison subway systems in New York, Washington D.C. and other major cities before or during the fourth of July.

The alert states that "this activity is allegedly intended to bring America to its knees on its Independence Day."

The only successful nerve gas attack against a subway system took place in March, 1995 in Japan, when members of a cult released Sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring over 5,000 people.

SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney told Eyewitness News that the agency was notified Thursday of this unspecified threat and that the public transit agency is responding appropriately.

Earlier on Friday, we rode the Market-Frankford Line but found no evidence of increased security.

Maloney says there is extra security in place that riders won't see. "I think we have plenty of security, considering the level of threat we have. You see some law enforcement - some law enforcement you don't see," Maloney told KYW Anchor Robin Rieger.

Some SEPTA riders we talked to reacted by saying they were scared and that the public has a right to know about these threats.

While SEPTA was willing to talk to Eyewitness News, the Philadelphia Police and the FBI had no comment on the terror alert and they wouldn't explain to us why the warning hasn't been shared with the public.

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[Mean Spirited]

When are we going to round these b*st*rds up?!?

[rwfromkansas]

A few subways isn't going to "bring America to its knees."

[rwfromkansas]

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[Steve Eisenberg]

Although I take the Philadelphia subways to work most days, and I am not poor or black, most riders are black and are surely far more likely to be poor than most Americans. Also, quite a few riders dress in Muslim garb. I just find it very hard to believe that this is the crowd they want to kill. Could they really be stupid enough to hit city subways when they could go after packed main line bound commuter trains? Time will tell. Of course, no one can know where they will hit, so speculation is useless except for law enforcement.

[Sidebar Moderator]

This duplicate post is locked.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I was kinda thinking that about the hysteria-driven media hypesters misleading referring to themselve as television news.