IMF, World Bank Target of Possible Attack, U.S. Says
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By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States raised the security alert level to high for the World Bank (news - web sites) and the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) and companies in the New York area on Sunday after intelligence signaled a possible al Qaeda attack.
Reuters Photo
"High," or code orange, is the second highest level of alert and this was the first time that specific buildings were cited in raising the alert level.
"Reports indicate al Qaeda is targeting several specific buildings including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the District of Columbia," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told a news conference.
He added that the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup buildings and the Prudential building in Newark, New Jersey, were also on the list.
New York authorities, who plan their own news conference later on Sunday, had said earlier they were studying reports of possible suicide attacks using trucks.
Ridge said that there was no specific information indicating an imminent attack but a number of sources had indicated that al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was aiming again for the world's financial heart.
"The quality of this intelligence based on multiple reporting streams in multiple locations is rarely seen," he said.
While declining to say where the information came from, Ridge mentioned Pakistan as a key ally and the White House said separately the intelligence had been received in the past 72 hours.
On Friday, Pakistan announced the capture of a top al Qaeda operative, Tanzanian-born Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, wanted by the United States in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people.
A computer and several disks were seized when Ghailani and 13 others were seized last weekend southeast of Islamabad.
IMF (news - web sites) spokesman Bill Murray said that the fund had been advised by U.S. authorities of the possible threat and were taking all necessary precautions. The fund stages its annual autumn meeting in early October. |
