Federal officials say U.S. intelligence agencies have intercepted communication between suspected al-Qaida operatives discussing potential terror attacks in Texas planned for July Fourth weekend, reports the Houston Chronicle.
According to the report, the intelligence suggested a possible attack on energy facilities in the Houston area. Officials are concerned about the vulnerability of oil or gas facilities and pipelines.
“We get these reports on a regular basis,” an official with the Department of Homeland Security told the Chronicle. “We are currently in the process of assessing the credibility of the report concerning Texas. We have informed the authorities in Texas of the information we received and told them we were trying to determine its credibility.”
A federal official confirmed an account first published in Newsweek magazine that a possible al-Qaida operative known as “Sakr” said in an Internet chat room that an attack had been planned for a long time, and that terrorists inside the U.S. were only waiting for approval from a man dubbed “the Sheik” before striking in early July, according to the Houston paper.
“We are aware of this threat, but beyond that we can’t comment,” Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the paper. “We are going to be checking out different things to see what we can find, but that is all that I can say.”
According to the report, in recent weeks the Homeland Security Department announced about $30 million in grants to upgrade security at port facilities where oil is shipped in Houston and Beaumont, Texas, to guard against possible terrorist attacks.
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