"Imminent terrorist attacks" in Scandinavia, Baltic Republics

[Bluebear]

BREAKING
Nordic, Baltic states warning
From correspondents in Washington
November 1, 2004

THE United States has warned US citizens living in or passing through the Nordic and Baltic states of possible imminent terrorist attacks in crowded public places in those countries.

The State Department, in notices issued by the US embassies in Finland and Latvia, urged Americans to be particularly vigilant in shopping centres and mass transportation hubs in Nordic and Baltic nations.

"The US Department of State wishes to alert US citizens, either resident in or travelling through the Nordic/Baltic region, that it has received threat information and urges all US citizens in the Nordic and Baltic countries to be vigilant as to their surroundings," the embassy in Helsinki said.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11250576%255E1702,00.html

The United States today warned US citizens living in or passing through the Nordic and Baltic states of possible imminent terrorist attacks in crowded public places in those countries.

The State Department, in notices issued by the US embassies in Finland and Latvia, urged Americans to be particularly vigilant in shopping centres and mass transportation hubs.

"The US Department of State wishes to alert US citizens, either resident in or travelling through the Nordic/Baltic region, that it has received threat information and urges all US citizens in the Nordic and Baltic countries to be vigilant as to their surroundings," the embassy in Helsinki said.

It said the warning should be heeded "especially in centres of ground-based mass transit" and called on Americans "to report any unusual or suspicious persons, incidents or circumstances to the nearest police authorities".

A separate but similar notice issued by the US embassy in Riga urged Americans to avoid such shopping and mass transit areas altogether, starting tomorrow.

"US citizens are urged to avoid large shopping areas and transportation hubs on or about November 1, 2004, and to report any unusual or suspicious persons, incidents or circumstances to the nearest police authorities," it said.

It was not immediately clear if the US embassies in other Nordic and Baltic states had released similar warnings.

On Friday, police in Latvia said they had tightened security around foreign embassies and public buildings after being warned by the United States, Norway and Estonia of terrorist threats.

The embassy notices provided no further details of the potential threat but said the State Department would "continue to monitor the situation".

http://afr.com/articles/2004/11/01/1099262768203.html

[Bjornsdotter]

1. WTF......

....am I going to be attacked by a herring?

Cheers,
Kim :toast:

[Bluebear]

2. Just a cherry heering! Skol!

[Bjornsdotter]

3. LOL! n/t

[CottonBear]

4. Very odd. Not many details.

I posted this over in LBN too. Could it have to do with the current Chechen situation in Russia?

[Bluebear]

5. Hi CB....sounds pretty specific

Shopping centers, ground-based transit. Pretty potent warning. I don't know why those countries are targeted?

[CottonBear]

6. I was in London during an IRA bombing campaign

in the early 1990s. It was one of the last of the annual Christmas attacks. A bomb blew up the tacks of a commuter train line, one went off in train car and Victoria Station was closed for an entire day. I was on a Tube station platform when a voice came over a speaker saying "the unclaimed bag on the platform must be immediately claimed or it will be removed and destroyed." I looked all around but couldn't see a bag in my immediate area. At Gatwick airport, black-clad SWAT teams with military rifles were everywhere. Scary, scary, scary.

[sandnsea]

7. Did they vote yet?

Or have the US embassies been a little slow in the process. It's all just a little too convenient for me.

[smirkymonkey]

8. What the hell is this about?

Why Nordic/Baltic countries? It just seems kind of strange to me, that's all.

[Nordic]

9. Bushco needs a terra attack somewhere, but not in the US

if it was in the US it would make him look bad.

If it's somewhere else, it will remind everybody he's fighting the war on terror (which he of course is NOT)

[smirkymonkey]

11. How lame, but so typical of them!

Like anybody is going to connect the bogeyman of Islamic Terrorism with an attack in Estonia or Latvia. He's really reaching.

[uhhuh]

10. The chimp dozed off during Bin Laden's

Taped speech. He kinda remembered he said something about hating freedom in Sweden, or whatever, so he ordered alerts be sent to all Baltic and Scandinavian countries. He knows Sweden is around there somewhere.

Simple really.

[charlie]

12. And he knows Sweden has no army

(ask Tom Lantos about that) so everyone would be good and skeered, what with the country's defenselessness and all.

[smirkymonkey]

13. LOL!

Well they don't speak English, and they are technically in the north of Europe, so OF COURSE they're Swedish!

Besides, Sweden doesn't have a military, don't ya know, so how can they possibly defend themselves from the spectre of Islamic Terra-ism!

I will eat my hat if something happens and he tries to pin it on Bin Laden! :eyes:

[Lindacooks]

14. Is this because bin Laden mentioned Sweden in the 'tape'?

LOL

[Bluebear]

15. **Interesting update** from German press

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,325916,00.html

Translated:

The authorities react with surprise!

Representatives of the local police and crisis readiness departments in Stockholm and Helsinki both agreed that it has no knowledge of an increased probability of acts of terrorism. A Finnish police spokeman commenting on the "warning" said "It could have something to do with the Election in the USA!"

[DivinBreuvage]

16. Yep, OBL said that if he hated freedom why didn't he attack Sweden

So the Bush administration had to spring into action to prove that George was right! If OBL had said "if we hate freedom why didn't we attack Canada" Americans in Canada would be getting the warning today.

[Stockholm]

17. LOL beware of shifty looking individuals with */cheney pins!

The strange part is that we have military presence in Afghanistan (Specialforces SSG, FS 07 within ISAF now replaced by FS 08)?