WASHINGTON, Sept 9, (Agencies): New York police mounted a major counterterrorism operation during Friday’s evening rush hour as US officials rush to check credible, but unconfirmed intelligence about a 9/11 anniversary plot, a senior law enforcement official told Reuters.
The operation involves a “big show of force” which includes officers armed with heavy weapons patrolling subways and stepped up security and bag checks at major subway and commuter train stations, including Grand Central and Pennsylvania station terminals, the official said. Law enforcement agencies in neighboring states were also involved.
While the operation had been planned some time ago, the forces and tactics deployed were stepped up after local and federal authorities received what they described as “specific and credible” but unconfirmed intelligence about a possible threat to attack the United States by Islamic militants timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Threat
Intelligence about the anniversary threat only surfaced during the course of this week and included possible threats of attacks targeting subways or commuter trains or possible car bomb attacks in New York or Washington, US officials said.

Vice-President Joseph Biden said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program on Friday morning: “We don’t have the smoking gun but we do have talk about using a car bomb.”
One of the officials said the threat is believed to come from militants following an al-Qaeda ideology. But it is not certain whether there is a direct connection to what remains of al-Qaeda’s battered core leadership.
Officials have said that US law enforcement agencies are on the lookout for three possible suspects, though it is unclear how much, if any, precise information regarding the suspects’ identities is available to US authorities.

“We have to be concerned. Terrorism is theater and this is a stage, right now probably the world’s biggest stage,” said New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
“We have the opening of the 9/11 memorial, the president and two former presidents here, obviously alot of high profile public officials will be here, so we have to be concerned,” Kelly told CNN.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama ordered a redoubling of US counterterrorism efforts in the face of a “credible but unconfirmed” threat before the Sept 11 attacks anniversary.

Attack
US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the threat involved Washington and New York City, which were targeted in al-Qaeda attacks a decade ago this Sunday that killed nearly 3,000 people.
A counterterrorism official said intelligence pointed to possible car bomb attacks and added the threat information came from Pakistan’s tribal areas. A manhunt was under way for two or three suspects, who one person familiar with the matter said were suspected of having links to al-Qaeda.
But US officials used strong caveats when discussing the threat information privately, with a national security official cautioning that experts thought the threat would ultimately not check out.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stressed at a news conference on Friday that the threat had not been corroborated, even as he announced heightened security measures “some of which you may notice, some of which you may not notice.”
Bloomberg asked citizens to go about their daily routines as usual but report any suspicious or dangerous activity. “Over the next three days we should all keep our eyes wide open.”
The White House said Obama was briefed on specific threat information on Thursday morning, and said the government had already heightened security before the anniversary.
Documents discovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after he was killed in a raid in May by Navy SEALs, highlighted his persistent interest in attacking the United States around the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. But it is unclear if the plans ever evolved beyond aspiration.
“As we know from the intelligence gathered following the Osama bin Laden raid, al-Qaeda has showed an interest in important dates and anniversaries, such as 9/11,” said Jan Fedarcyk with the FBI’s New York field office.
Kelly announced measures including more bag inspections on the subway, more bomb-sniffing dogs on patrol and increased deployment of radiation monitoring equipment.
“There will be increased focus on tunnels and bridges and infrastructure in general, as well as landmark locations, houses of worship and government buildings,” he said.
A law-enforcement source played down an ABC News report about missing rental trucks — saying the vehicles had been recovered and there was no connection to terrorism.
Biden added Friday that there was no confirmation that anyone had traveled into the US for such a plot although the tip came from a credible source. “There’s no certitude,” he said.
“The thing we are all most worried about is what they call a ‘lone ranger,’ a lone actor, not some extremely complicated plan like it took to take down the World Trade towers,” said Biden, who appeared on the trio of network morning TV shows Friday.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, was also at a heightened state of alert Friday. Spokesman Steve Coleman said there would be increased vehicle checks at all crossings, increased police presence at all facilities, and increased bag checks at airports, bus and rail terminals.
In Washington, the police presence was increased and the city’s police chief, Cathy Lanier, said officers would work 12-hour shifts for the near future. She said that scheduling changes were “part of our plan” and that “maintaining a certain sense of unpredictability is essential to the success of any security plan.”
A US official said the source of the terror tip indicated that al-Qaeda’s new leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, was involved in planning the plot. But the official also said that many in the intelligence community question that and other aspects of the source’s information.
Meanwhile, Obama declared on Thursday that the al-Qaeda network is nearing total defeat, having failed to destroy the United States’ “unique” leadership role in the world.
In an op-ed for the French daily Le Figaro penned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Islamist extremist group’s Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Obama thanked America’s allies and vowed to cooperate with them closely.
“Those who attacked us on 9/11 wanted to drive a wedge between the United States and the world. They failed. On this 10th anniversary, we are united with our friends and partners in remembering all those we have lost in this struggle,” he said.
“Working together, we have disrupted al-Qaeda plots, eliminated Osama Bin Laden and much of his leadership and put al-Qaeda on the path to defeat,” he said, welcoming the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Meanwhile, people across the Middle East and North Africa are showing that the surest path to justice and dignity is the moral force of nonviolence, not mindless terrorism and violence,” Obama added.
“It is clear that violent extremists are being left behind and that the future belongs to those who want to build, not destroy.”
Obama also sought to reassure the United States’ friends that his country’s economic problems will not cause it to turn in on itself.
“To nations and people seeking a future of peace and prosperity, you have a partner in the United States. For even as we confront economic challenges at home, the United States will continue to play a unique leadership role in the world.”
The piece in Le Figaro was separate from an earlier op-ed published in the US daily USA Today, in which he said the Sept 11 attackers were “no match for our resilience.”
The 2001 assault, in which four airliners were hijacked and crashed by suicide attackers from Saudi-born extremist Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, left more than 3,000 dead and led the United States to invade Afghanistan.
Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, also used the attacks in part to justify his later 2003 invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, arguing that the dictator might share weapons of mass destruction with terrorists.
The new president has begun to scale back the US presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but in May sent commandos to kill Bin Laden in Pakistan.
“As President, I’ve worked to renew the global cooperation we need to meet the full breadth of global challenges that we face,” Obama wrote in Le Figaro.
“Through a new era of engagement, we’ve forged partnerships with nations and peoples based on mutual interest and mutual respect.
“As an international community, we have shown that terrorists are no match for the strength and resilience of our citizens,” Obama said, emphasising the new tone he has tried to set in international relations since succeeding Bush.
“I’ve made it clear that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Rather, with allies and partners we are united against al- Qaeda, which has attacked dozens of countries and killed tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children — the vast majority of them Muslims.”