NYPD pioneers small bomb detection system

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NEW YORK: The NYPD has developed a fool proof system to detect a small atomic bomb. American officials fear that Al-Qaeda might be planning new attacks on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. They fear that terrorists might use nuclear technology and might use a small dirty bomb.

In order to counter the threat, New York police is testing ground breaking counterterrorism technology that is expected to dramatically increase their ability to detect and thwart a potential radiation attack.

Officials said the technology will allow a command center in lower Manhattan to monitor 2,000 mobile radiation detectors carried by officers each day around the city. The detectors will send a wireless, real-time alert if there's a reading signaling a dirty bomb threat.

A dirty bomb is intended to spread panic by using a small explosive to create a radioactive cloud in urban settings. One has never been discovered or detonated in a US terror plot. But law enforcement considers dirty bombs a serious threat because they're easy to build and because of intelligence that foreign terrorists want to use them against American cities. (AP)