Ambassador warns of big terror attack in Saudi or US

Saudi and US officials last night issued stark warnings that further potentially devastating terrorist attacks on American soil and against western interests in the Middle East were likely.

In an unusually frank exchange with foreign reporters, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said he feared another "big" attack was imminent in either his country or the US. Prince Bandar immediately returned to Riyadh after the series of bombs that tore through western housing complexes last week killing 34 people, including eight Americans and one Briton.

"There is chatter, a high level of chatter regionally and in other international spots" that something could happen, he said, referring to monitored communications over the internet. "My gut feeling is that something big is going to happen here or in America."

He said he believed there were around 50 extremist militants in Saudi Arabia. "I'm confident we'll get them in the end. But the question is, will it be early enough?"

At the same time, an FBI bulletin has been dispatched to local and state law enforcement agencies in the US, telling them to be on high alert. The bulletin leaked to the Associated Press said: "The US intelligence community assesses that attacks against the US and western targets overseas are likely: attacks in the US cannot be ruled out."

Both make reference to the recovering strength of al-Qaida, the terrorist network run by Osama bin Laden, believed to be behind the September 11 attacks. Saudi investigators suggest that al-Qaida had become riven by infighting but has now put aside internal differences to regroup.

The Egyptian militant Saif al-Adel, believed to be al-Qaida's new military chief, is thought by the Saudis to have masterminded the recent attacks.

Prince Bandar said he believed that the suicide bombers in Riyadh had been planning more but could have been forced to act precipitately after Saudi investigators discovered a cache of weapons and explosives this month at a safe house close to one of the western housing compounds.

"That would have taken out two blocks in the city if it had gone off accidentally," Prince Bandar said. "We're all wondering if it's the last [of the explosives] or is it the tip of the iceberg?"

The FBI has sent 60 people to assist the Saudi authorities in the investigation. Al-Qaida is also thought to have been behind the bomb attacks at the end of last week in Casablanca, Morocco, that killed 41 people.

The Moroccan police arrested a chemistry graduate yesterday after finding a suspected suicide bomber's lair in Casablanca; the Saudi authorities also detained a gunman outside the US consulate in Dharan.

According to the FBI bulletin, the blasts in Riyadh "indicate that the al-Qaida network remains active and highly capable". The attacks, it adds, bear the "traditional hallmarks" of the terrorist network such as precise planning, surveillance and coordination among several units.

President Bush insisted that his anti-terror campaign was on track. "I always said this was going to be a long war," he told a news conference.

But the state department's director of policy planning, Richard Haass, warned that there was no end in sight to the conflict. "This is a war that is not going to have any end for the foreseeable future."