Saudi Arabian and US officials have warned that al-Qaeda may be planning to launch fresh terror attacks in the US or against American interests overseas.
Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington told reporters in Riyadh that "there is chatter, a high level of chatter regionally and in other international spots" about possible attacks.
"My gut feeling tells me something big is going to happen here or in America," Prince Bandar bin Sultan said last night.
Prince Bandar is known for handling delicate diplomatic tasks for his government and rushed back to Riyadh following the May 12th car bomb attacks, which killed 34 people.
He also told reporters that Saudi authorities had obtained information during recent months that al-Qaeda had been wracked by internal divisions.
Saudi officials believed that the terror group's leaders had been so split that they did not want to risk carrying out any attacks in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's birthplace, in order to maintain their intellectual base within the Gulf kingdom.
The FBI has also warned that al-Qaeda could mount new attacks in the US as well as target American and Western interests overseas.
"The US intelligence community assesses that attacks against US and Western targets overseas are likely - attacks in the United States cannot be ruled out," an FBI bulletin dispatched to state and local law enforcement agencies around the country said.
AP