New York on alert over 9/11 anniversary car bomb threat

New York was on alert Friday, with heavily armed police on the streets, after what officials call a “credible” bomb threat ahead of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Federal officials said there was a danger of bomb-laden vehicles in either Washington or New York.

Reuters/Brendan McDermid

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a press conference the threat was credible, but "at this moment has not been corroborated. I want to stress that".

And city police commissioner Raymond Kelly said that measures included police "trained in heavy weapons positioned outside of Manhattan to respond citywide".

Extra shift hours would effectively increase by a third the size of patrols around New York, with checks on ferries, tunnels, bridges and landmarks, Kelly said.

And, as officials said that the threat is expected to come from a car bomb, he said there will be increased towing of illegally parked cars and more bomb detection sweeps in car parks.

A White House official confirmed that President Barack Obama had "directed the counterterrorism community to redouble its efforts in response to this credible but unconfirmed information" but there is no change to the national threat level.

The plot is said to have originated in Afghanistan or Pakistan, with several men travelling to the US over the last few weeks.

Earlier, US military bases had raised their alert levels, but officials would not say whether this was related to the new threat report.