FBI Warning Highlights Tank Trucks

The FBI advised law enforcement agencies Friday to be on the lookout for terrorists who may be plotting to use fuel tank trucks in attacks against Jewish neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported.

However, the nation’s alert status remains unchanged at code yellow, the third-highest stage of alert, AP said.

A federal law enforcement official, speaking on grounds of anonymity, told AP the warning was not based on a specific threat, but on interviews with captured al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

The interviews did not reveal a specific target city or time.

The notice to law enforcement agencies encouraged them to contact Jewish community officials and trucking and fuel delivery facilities that operate fuel tankers or commercial fueling stations and emphasize the need to report suspicious activities or persons, AP said.

AP said the latest advisory was sent across the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, an electronic system that allows the FBI to send alerts or messages to police in all 50 states simultaneously.

The United States believes al-Qaida has used fuel tankers as weapons before.

In Tunisia, a man named Nizar Naouar is believed to have blown up a gas truck near the historic Ghriba synagogue last month. Eighteen people were killed, many of them German tourists.

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