Pat Dollard

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WASHINGTON (AP) – At least two of the three men involved in a possible al-Qaida plot to pull off an attack coinciding with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 are believed to be U.S. citizens or have U.S. traveling documents, government officials said Friday.

Word that al-Qaeda had dispatched would-be attackers reached U.S. officials in midweek. A CIA informant who has proven reliable in the past approached intelligence officials overseas to say that the men had been ordered by newly minted al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Sunday by doing harm on U.S. soil.

Their primary mission is to explode a car bomb type of “dirty” bomb in either New York or Washington, but if that proves impossible, they have been ordered to simply cause as much destruction as they can, one U.S. official said.

The tipster says the would-be attackers are of Arab descent and may speak Arabic as well as English.

CBS New York:

The crossroads of the world came to a grinding halt at various times Friday because for police Times Square has become the ground zero of the latest terror threat. Sources told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer that another attempt to explode a bomb there is a key concern, and the intelligence suggests it could be a dirty bomb.

That’s why the NYPD is deploying all kinds of radiation detectors, panel trucks with sophisticated instruments. On Friday, cops had personal radiation detectors on their belts, and radiation detectors are being used by police within a 50-mile radius of New York City — in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania and on Long Island.

Based on informant information authorities are looking for three suspects. One is believed to be an American citizen. Two others apparently have U.S. travel documents.

Some of the information on the latest threat is beleived to be coming from Younis al-Mauritani, the man hand-picked by Osama bin Laden to develop terror targets in the United States. He’s a “most wanted list” senior al Qaeda operative who was arrested in Pakistan last week with his computer, BlackBerry and other tools.

On Friday night, tourists and residents in Times Square didn’t seem too concerned with the threat of an attack.

“I think it’s the safest place on the planet right now,” Andre Vriese of California told CBS 2?s Sean Hennessey.

“Remember, an awful lot of the security we have you don’t see,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “I’m satisfied that Commissioner Kelly has deployed all of our resources doing everything that we should be doing.”

“Terrorism is theater and this is the stage,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said. “This is right now probably the world’s biggest stage. “

There was a lot of security you could see Friday in the Big Apple, especially in Times Square, because, as sources told Kramer, the intelligence includes information that al Qaeda wants to finish the job that started with Faisal Shahzad’s failed car bomb attempt in May 2010.

Top security officials told Kramer this is the al Qaeda way. Their 1993 attempt to topple the World Trade Center failed, so they came back again on 9/11. Shahzad’s car bomb fizzled, so now they want to try again.