WASHINGTON (voa) – The FBI says terrorists may be planning to attack banks in the northeastern United States – and says the al-Qaida terrorist network may be involved.
At a speech in the city of Pittsburgh Friday, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the government is not asking banks to close or advising people to stay away from banks. But Mr. Ashcroft asked the American people to immediately report anything suspicious to authorities.
U.S. officials say the warning is based on interviews with captured al-Qaida suspects from Afghanistan. Authorities cautioned they have no information about a specific plot or threats to any specific financial institution.
The alert comes as world finance ministers gather in Washington for meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The warning issued covers Washington and 12 U.S. states in the northeast – Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The FBI said the decision to issue the warning came after discussions among officials of the Justice Department, Office of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department.
The FBI said the U.S. terrorist threat status remains unchanged at “yellow” – the third highest of five levels of seriousness in a new official U.S. threat assessment system.
The alert comes just days after a Dutch teenager confessed to making a fake bomb threat that prompted a number of banks in Washington to close their doors on Monday.
