At least some of the threats that prompted US forces to go on higher states of alert in Middle East have been linked to Mr Osama bin Laden, the alleged terrorist mastermind, a US defence official said yesterday.
US forces in Bahrain and Qatar were put on the highest state of alert over the weekend, as a result of current intelligence pointing to a likely attack at specific locations, he said.
At Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, US forces enforcing a no-fly zone over northern Iraq also were put on a higher state of alert - but not the highest - in response to the new intelligence.
"We have no definite data on the source of the threat," the defence official said.
US authorities believe Mr bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire living in exile in Afghanistan, was behind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people.
Investigators also are scrutinising the October 12th suicide bombing that killed 17 US sailors aboard the USS Cole in Aden for links to Mr bin Laden.
The official said the information received over the weekend was developed independently of the investigation into the USS Cole bombing, which is being conducted by Yemeni authorities and the FBI.
US Army General Tommy Franks, the commander of US forces in the Gulf, issued the order to US forces in Qatar and Bahrain to go on "threat condition Delta" over the weekend in response to what officials said was specific information.
Bahrain is the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, which was ordered to put to sea after the Cole bombing as a security precaution. Qatar is the site of prepositioned US air force and army equipment, but has only a small US military contingent.
Some 1,300 US service members and about 50 US aircraft are based at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, from which US and British warplanes fly patrols over northern Iraq.
US forces in Turkey fall under the US European Command, whereas those in the Gulf states are under the US Central Command.
Yesterday Mr Clinton met his top national security advisers to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
"This (meeting) is intended to give him an assessment of where we are in the wake of the Arab summit, where we are in the wake of Sharm al-Sheikh and assess where we go from here," the White House spokesman, Mr Jake Siewert, told reporters.
Despite renewed violence in the West Bank and Gaza, Mr Siewert insisted the US-brokered agreement forged in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh - in which the two sides pledged to take steps to end the violence - was the best way forward.