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Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington , Aug. 2

THE federal government has increased the threat level to "high" for certain specific financial institutions in New York, Washington D.C., and New Jersey amidst latest intelligence assessment of terror outfits plotting to strike targets with car or truck bombs.

In Washington D.C., the financial institutions that have been placed on a high state of security and alert are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund headquarters — buildings that are very close to the White House and are in the high security perimeter to start with.

The District police has made it known that while it is not going to shut down the area around these two international financial institutions, there is going to be a very high state of security including stepping up traffic stops near the World Bank and the IMF.

Besides the two institutions in Washington D.C., the Secretary of Homeland Security, Mr Tom Ridge, said in a press briefing that there was "new and unusually specific information about where Al-Qaeda would like to attack".

In New York, the likely targets are the Citicorp building and the New York Stock Exchange. And in Newark, New Jersey it is the Prudential Plaza.

Mr Ridge said that the targets were "significant institutions" that related to the leadership role of the US in the international economy.

The cabinet official stressed that what prompted the raising of the threat level was as a result of "offensive intelligence and military operations overseas as well as our strong partnerships with our allies around the world such as Pakistan".

Unnamed intelligence officials have been quoted in the media as saying that the fresh intelligence leading to the latest terror alert has to do with documents seized from an al Qaeda cell that Pakistani and American forces busted in Gujrat, Pakistan last week.

The documents are said to contain some elaborate details of businesses and government targets in the three cities that have merited the attention of authorities.

More Stories on : Terrorism | Financial Institutions

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