New York City Police on Terrorist Alert

Hundreds of police fanned out through the streets of New York after al-Qaida Internet communications predicted a terror strike against the city.

The New York Police Department anti-terrorism unit mobilized Friday night after reports surfaced about a dirty bomb in the city, The New York Post reported Saturday.

DEBKA, an Israeli-based Web site that tracks terrorist communications, said messages between al-Qaida operatives claimed trucks filled with radioactive material would attack New York, the United States’ financial nerve center, The Post reported.

In response, police set up checkpoints and are conducting searches throughout the city, including at the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and in Financial District in lower Manhattan.  

While the threat remains unverified, our counter-terrorism posture has been modified to include increased deployment of radiological sensors, said police spokesman Paul Browne.