DATE=04/19/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=F-B-I/BANK WARNING (S)

NUMBER=2-288929

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The F-B-I says it has received unsubstantiated information suggesting banks in the United States could be the target of a terrorist attack. Correspondent Nick Simeone reports this warning was issued just hours before finance ministers from the Group of Eight nations opened their spring meetings in Washington.

TEXT: The F-B-I has alerted authorities in Washington D-C and 12 states mostly in the Northeast about what it says are unsubstantiated terrorist threats against financial institutions banks in particular.

Attorney General John Ashcroft.

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It's important to note that there is no specific threat being communicated to any specific institution. We are not changing our assessment of the overall national threat level and we are not urging banks to close and people to stay away from banks.

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Still, a U-S official who asked not to be identified said the threats came from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Washington is already bracing for what could be tens of thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators converging on the city over the next several days to protest the G-8 meeting, the war against terrorism and other causes.

Authorities are concerned these weekend protests could be easy cover for other groups who may want to commit an act of terrorism. Last year, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said he had learned of an alleged plot by Osama bin Laden to carry out a terrorist attack on world leaders attending last July's G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy. (SIGNED)

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