The United States have taken steps to counter what it called threats from extremists, saying its military forces in the Gulf are on the highest alert and warning Americans traveling abroad they could be at risk.
Officials, who asked not to be identified, told
Reuters
forces in the Gulf region had been put on Threat Condition Delta on Thursday based on a "non-specific" but credible threat linked to exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
The State Department, meanwhile, issued a worldwide caution noting the indictment on Thursday of 14 people for the 1996 bombing which killed 19 U.S. servicemen at a military housing complex - Khobar Towers - in eastern Saudi Arabia.
"The US government has learned that American citizens and interests abroad may be at increased risk of a terrorist action from extremist groups," the department said.
The officials said US warships in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. 5th fleet, had been ordered to sea and that a U.S. Marine Corps training exercise in Jordan was being cut short.
"There was credible terrorist threat information. It suggested that something could possibly happen shortly, but there is no specificity in the way of a target or a location," one official said.
The official said the military alert, the latest in a series of cautionary steps in the Gulf region over the past year, was in response to a report that an attack might be made against American military or civilian personnel.
In issuing its warning to US citizens, the State Department said it was unaware of any specific threat in response to Thursday's indictments for the Khobar attack.
But, it added, "US citizens are urged to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness to reduce their vulnerability."
A similar worldwide caution had been in effect since May 29th, after a New York court convicted bin Laden's associates for bombing US embassies in 1997.