The State Department has warned US citizens of "imminent terrorist actions" in the Arabian Peninsula, said reports.
In a statement released Wednesday, the department said it had "strong indications that individuals may be planning imminent terrorist actions against US interests in the Arabian Peninsula."
The Arabian Peninsula includes Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
"In the past, such individuals have not distinguished between official and civilian targets," the statement said, cited by CNN.
"As always, we take this information seriously.
"US government facilities remain at a heightened state of alert. American citizens in the region are urged to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security and to exercise caution."
The department said it had no information on "specific targets, timing or method of attack."
US military forces in the Arabian Gulf and Middle East region went to the highest state of alert about a month ago in reaction to what officials at that time called an unspecified but credible threat of attack against US interests, believed to have been planned by people linked to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
US authorities say Bin Laden runs a far-flung network of Islamic terrorists that have been tied to the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in east Africa and of a US destroyer in Yemen last year.
Four men were convicted by a New York jury in June and July for their part in the embassy bombings, in which 213 people died.
Bin Laden, believed to be in hiding in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban militia, is one of 13 people charged in the embassy bombings who remain at large.
A $5 million reward for his capture has gone unclaimed.
Earlier Wednesday, a small explosion occurred close to the US embassy in Yemen, but the State Department said it did not target the embassy or US personnel.
Last week, Attorney General John Ashcroft said US law enforcement agencies had thwarted 130 terrorist plots targeting the United States between 1980 and 1999.
But in a speech to state governors he warned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other institutions charged with combating terrorism "will not always succeed."
Ashcroft made the comments after revelations that Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, arrested in Washington state in late 1999 with bomb-making material and convicted of terrorist conspiracy last April, planned to bomb Los Angeles International Airport – Albawaba.com
