"There's a silent fear on the streets."

That was how Royal Gazette reporter Colin Zuill summed up the mood on the streets of Boston 24 hours after the worst terrorist atrocity the world has ever seen brought the USA to its knees.

Mr. Zuill, one of the newspaper's sports reporters, has been in the city where two of the planes left from before being hijacked on Tuesday for almost three weeks.

"I am right in the midst of it," he said from his room at the Howard Johnson hotel at Fenway Park. "I am about a quarter of a mile from the Prudential Centre and the Westin Hotel which was raided today by the FBI."

In the immediate hours after the attacks he said people were wandering around the streets in a daze, wondering whether their city would be next to be targeted.

"There is silent fear among the people. The evening after it happened there were looks of worry and concern on people's faces because there were jets flying low-ish over the city. People were thinking 'hey, what if it's another airline?'," he said.

Zuill, who travelled to Boston so his mother-in-law could receive medical treatment, said non-urgent operations had been cancelled at the City's hospitals.

"The hospitals have opened up emergency areas to take in the injured. My mother-in-law had heart surgery ten days ago, she was supposed to have some other tests today but they were put off because everybody was getting ready for people being shipped up from New York," he said.

Boston's Logan Airport is expected to remain closed for the foreseeable future while the FBI comb the area for clues as to the identity of the hijackers.

Zuill was expected to fly home from there at the weekend but he said he was in no rush to get on a plane.

"We have been here for close to three weeks now and were expecting to come by Friday. But if the doctors had told us we could leave on Friday - 'No way, Jose'. I am not ready to fly home yet." he said.

"Not until next week. I am just too uncomfortable. Normally after two weeks in any place you are ready to come home, but in this case I am content to stay here until this thing hopefully blows over."