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February 12, 2002
WASHINGTON -- The FBI issued an extraordinary terrorist alert Monday night, asking law enforcement and the American public to be on the lookout for a Yemeni man and several associates who might be plotting a terrorist attack as early as today.
The FBI scrambled to put the warning out after information emerged that one or more people were involved. Officials said the intelligence, while deemed credible, was not specific about targets.
The alert identified one possible attacker as Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Yemeni national born in Saudia Arabia in 1979. It listed about a dozen associates of al-Rabeei.
The bureau at mid-evening posted the alert on its public Web site, www.fbi.gov, to help Americans identify the possible perpetrators.
"Recent information indicates a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around Feb. 12, 2002. One or more operatives may be involved in the attack," the alert to 18,000 law enforcement agencies said.
The alert asked police "to stop and detain" any of the named individuals in the alert and that all "should be considered extremely dangerous."
Law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alert was prompted by recent information from interviews of detainees in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where several al-Qaida operatives are being held.
Law enforcement officials said there was no evidence that al-Rabeei had entered the United States. The alert did not say whether the attack was planned or involved Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
Before Monday, FBI and Homeland Security officials had issued three general alerts urging all Americans to be cautious and on the lookout for possible terrorist activities.
The last was issued Dec. 3 and was supposed to last through the holidays. It has since been extended through the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and is supposed to expire around March 11.
Monday's warning was carefully organized to ensure that police, news media and the public learned about them at the same time, officials said.