US raises terror alert level

The United States is raising the terrorist threat level for rail and mass transit systems, but not for airlines, after the bomb blasts that rocked London, a US government official said yesterday.

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The official said the alert level for trains and subways would be raised to orange, which signifies a high risk of terrorist attack, from yellow, the mid-point on the five-point colour-coded system.

Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, plans to hold a news conference at 11:45am EDT to discuss the bombings in London and give an update about domestic protective measures.

The terrorism alert level was last raised in August last year to orange for the financial services sector in New York City, northern New Jersey and Washington D.C., based on intelligence that Al Qaida was targeting specific buildings. It was lowered back to yellow on November 10, 2004.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said, however, that there were no immediate plans to raise the nation's threat level.

"We do not have any intelligence indicating this type of attack is planned in the United States," Roehr-kasse said.

EPA An armed Washington DC Transit SRT police officer makes a security sweep on a train at the Metro Centre train station yesterday.

The Homeland Security Department asked authorities in major cities for "continued vigilance" of their transportation systems, Roehrkasse said.

A senior US counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity because events were unfolding, said that an Al Qaida cell in Europe claimed responsibility for the attack on an Internet site, but it could not be immediately determined whether the statement was credible. Still, because the attacks were well-coordinated and appeared fairly sophisticated, they were consistent with Al Qaida's methodology, the official said. The attacks did not appear to be the work of suicide bombers, the official said.

The information came from intelligence authorities in London, as relayed to US intelligence.

Recent intelligence indicated that London was considered a prime target for extremists, in part because Al Qaida was having difficulty getting people into the United States, the official said.

Security was stepped up in the nation's capital, with bomb-sniffing dogs and armed police officers patrolling subways and buses ridden by about 1.2 million people a day and looking for anything suspicious. Passengers were being urged to report any suspicious activity. A police helicopter repeatedly circled the Robert F. Kennedy stadium area.