US on high alert as emails threaten terror attacks

PLANS for terror strikes in the US and Britain were uncovered after a senior al-Qaida suspect was seized in Pakistan, security sources revealed yesterday.

Emails about attacks on both countries were on a computer belonging to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was wanted for the 1998 twin US embassy bombings in Africa.

The news comes as the US is on a state of high alert following warnings of attacks on “iconic” institutions in New York City, Washington DC, and Newark, New Jersey.

Potential targets were named as the Citigroup building and New York Stock Exchange, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington and the Prudential building in Newark.

Ghailani was taken in a 12-hour gun battle in Gujrat eight days ago.

Another computer, discs, two AK-47 assault rifles, plastic chemicals and a large amount of foreign currency were also seized.

Information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said: “We got a few emails from Ghailani’s computer about attacks in the US and UK.”

Ghailani is sharing “vital” information, Pakistan’s interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat added.

A second suspect, a “very wanted man”, believed to be a computer and communications expert, has also been seized in Pakistan.

The computer engineer would send messages using code words to al-Qaida suspects, according to one intelligence official.

Mr Ahmed would not reveal whether the information from Ghailani or the computer expert had prompted US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge’s warning on Sunday.

The financial institutions identified as targets opened for business yesterday amid heightened security and defiant words from people who said they will not be cowed by the news.

Police sealed off some streets in New York, put international finance employees in Washington through extra security checks and added barricades and a heavy armed presence to the streets of Newark.

It was also revealed yesterday that terrorists may have carried out attack test runs and infiltrated key financial buildings in the US.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the al-Qaida suspects arrested in Pakistan were found to have blueprints of the Prudential building in New Jersey.

The report said terrorists may have conducted a “test run” for an attack.

The Washington Post reported that captured documents also noted the location of security desks and cameras in the buildings.

One document said one of the buildings had three guards but that only one carried a weapon.

“Getting up to the higher floors is not very difficult if you go there midweek, as I did,” one operative added, according to the Washington Post.

One official claimed that intelligence agents had recovered a “treasure trove” of documents during the Pakistan raid. The files were in “extraordinary” detail and showed that meticulous plans had been made.