US briefs Wall Street about al Qaeda threat

US security officials warned major Wall Street institutions of a potential threat after an al Qaeda-linked magazine suggested financial markets could be a target of attack, the FBI said on Tuesday.

"In post-9/11 world we routinely give security briefings to security personnel in various parts of the private sector. This was in the course of a periodic update in the evolving threat stream," said Jim Margolin, spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York.

"I would stress that it's our belief that the information that was discussed was not imminent, not specific," Margolin said.

The briefings, which took place in January, were first reported by the New York affiliate of NBC television.

They were conducted by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force that includes various state and local law enforcement agencies and triggered in part by an article in the publicly available magazine Inspire among other sources, Margolin said.

"In the recent edition, there were some things in there that were among the topics of discussion in this recent briefing provided to financial institutions. I don't know that they were particularly alarming," Margolin said.

NBC, citing unidentified intelligence officials, reported threats coming from Yemen. An unidentified NBC source stressed the threats were general and there was "no indication of a targeted assassination plot" against any particular executive.