US on alert amid terror warnings

The United States was on alert for suicide bombers today after fresh warnings from the FBI.

Security chiefs expressed “a renewed concern” that attackers could strike on US soil amid the ongoing occupation of Iraq and Washington’s recent outspoken support for Israel.

Some 18,000 law-enforcement agencies were told to be alert for potential suicide bombers and advised on how to spot such an attacker.

According to the “lightly classified” bulletin, obtained by Time Magazine, law-enforcement agents should be on the lookout for people wearing heavy, bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals or trailing wires in their jacket.

The FBI advisory also tells officers to watch for more subtle body language, such as a person holding his or her fists clenched.

“Someone who never shows his palms could be gripping a detonator rigged to go off when a button is released,” it said.

The magazine said the bulletin was entitled ‘Possible suicide bomber indicators’ and was distributed via the FBI’S secure computer link.

The FBI report also warns that suicide bombers may disguise themselves in stolen military, police or firefighter’s uniforms, or even as pregnant women.

The magazine quoted FBI sources as saying there was no hard intelligence warning of specific plans by terrorists to launch suicide attacks in the US.

But it was prompted by “a renewed concern” of an attack.

Meanwhile, it was reported that police would begin checking heavy vehicles entering New York City amid fears that a truck bomb could be used against a high profile target, like the Empire State Building.

The New York Post said police would screen trucks at bridges and tunnels, and others already within the city if they looked suspicious.

And ABC News said investigations were underway into the discovery of suspicious materials along the New York to Washington railway line.

It reported that a concealed infrared electronic device was found on the tracks near Philadelphia. It was painted black and hidden in ballast at the side of the track.

Police fear it could have been a trigger for a bomb.

“This sensor could have functioned as designed by sending a radio signal to the receiver which also can be modified as an IED (improvised explosive device),” according to a police report, seen by ABC.

An FBI spokesman said investigators were “curious” about the device.

“We are looking into it because it shouldn’t have been there,” the spokesman said.

In the climate following the Madrid train bombings, any threat, however minor, is taken seriously, law-enforcement agencies said.

In a separate rail scare, the New Jersey attorney general’s office is investigating at least seven recent instances of suspected surveillance along New Jersey Transit commuter lines leading into New York City.

Trains and tracks may have been filmed in a systematic way, authorities say.