FBI sees no imminent threat following New York raids

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Wednesday there was no imminent security threat related to an investigation that included raids of New York homes this week in an apparent search for homemade explosives.

"I do not believe there is imminent danger from that particular investigation," Mueller said in response to a question from New York Senator Charles Schumer. He declined to elaborate on the investigation.

A joint anti-terrorism task force carried out raids on Monday in the Queens borough of New York, in an area believed to have been visited by a man suspected of sympathizing with al Qaeda. The raids rattled some residents as they came just days after the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

New York police and the FBI have provided few details about the raids. Witnesses said dozens of heavily armed FBI agents arrived in a phalanx of unmarked vehicles and stormed the building in the early morning.

A federal law enforcement official said three search warrants had been executed.

After the raids, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security advised police how to track evidence of bomb-making, including looking for burn marks typically found on suspects involved in a particular kind of bomb-making. Link...