Two Canadian citizens are being sought by U.S. authorities who fear that terrorists are planning a major attack “within months.”
There are no immediate plans to raise the terror-threat warning level, but officials are concerned about several high-profile possible targets that are coming up, including the nominating conventions of both major parties.
U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft on Wednesday described what he called a threat substantiated by multiple sources.
“Credible intelligence ... indicates that al-Qaeda intends to attack the United States within the next few months,” Mr. Ashcroft told a press briefing in Washington.
He said that the public should be on the lookout for seven suspects considered armed and dangerous. People are urged to report suspicious activity to their local police department.
Two of the suspects were identified by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller as Canadian citizens. According to FBI information, they are 38-year-old Abderraouf Jdey, born in Tunisia, and 41-year-old Amer El-Maati, born in Kuwait.
Also being sought are Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 29, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, 26, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, age unknown, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, age unknown, and a woman named Aafia Siddiqui, 32.
Earlier in the day, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said that the new information is raising concerns.
“I can confirm that we have seen for the past several weeks a continuous stream of reporting that talks about the possibility of attacks on the United States,” Mr. Ridge said on a morning television news show.
“It's our job, obviously, to try to identify who they are and apprehend them.”
Officials are unable, however, to identify the terrorists involved, nor did they know the time, place or method of attack, he said.
A senior counterterrorism official told Associated Press that there is a “steady drumbeat” of information coming in that suggests that al-Qaeda will hit the United States “hard.”
The information is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks in September of 2001, the official said. It was described as extremely credible and backed by an unusually high level of corroboration.
The New York Police Department said late Tuesday that it had received no specific threat about an attack in the city.
“There is nothing ... to indicate a specific threat or looming attack against New York City,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. “Nor have we been advised that terrorists are known to be in the United States actively plotting such an attack.”
More to come
In Pictures:
