As I thought might happen some time ago, the War on Terrorism has returned to Boston, captured here in this article from the Boston Globe:
The FBI launched a massive manhunt across the region yesterday for six people, four Chinese scientists and two Iraqis, said to be planning to detonate a “dirty bomb” in Boston, local public safety officials briefed on the threat said.
An anonymous tipster told authorities that the six sneaked into the United States from Mexico and were headed to New York and then to Boston, where they intended to launch an attack that could involve a lethal radioactive material, several officials briefed on the threat said.
The threat was reported to a California police department by someone in Mexico who said he had smuggled the suspects across the border, the officials said. The FBI had not corroborated the information as of last night, and officials expressed skepticism about the credibility of the tip, saying the names of the suspects had been run through all available databases of criminals and nothing had come up.
“What we’re trying to do is reassure the public that there’s no reason to panic, because the information has come from an unknown source, and none of the information has been corroborated,” US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said in an interview yesterday. “At the same time, we have to do our diligence.”
Sullivan said officials had decided to release the names and photos of the four Chinese nationals — Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen, and Guozhi Lin — because they believe the public could help investigators find the two men and two women.
“There’s an interest on the part of law enforcement to at least locate and speak with these individuals,” Sullivan said.
The information about the four was all that the tipster provided, public safety officials said. The tipster gave no identifying information about the Iraqis, they said.
Federal, state, and city officials were taking the threat seriously yesterday. The threat was discussed in President Bush’s morning security briefing. Representatives from several state agencies, including the Department of Public Health and the National Guard, were gathered at an emergency bunker in Framingham, as Boston police were readying themselves to respond to an attack.