The FBI has warned that a terrorist attack on the United States or against US interests in Yemen led by a Saudi-born Yemeni man is possible as early as today.
In the most specific alert about possible attacks issued by the FBI since the September 11th strikes on America, the FBI said evidence of an attack emerged from interrogations of prisoners captured in the Afghan war.
"Recent information indicates a planned attack may occur in the United States or against US interests in the country of Yemen on or around February 12th, 2002," the FBI said.
Although mentioning the names and nationalities of the "extremely dangerous" suspects, the alert did not identify possible targets.
The FBI said one or more operatives may be involved in the strike and named suspected ringleader Mr Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, born in 1979, identified as a Yemeni man who also has a number of aliases.
The alert listed more than a dozen aliases for Mr al-Rabeei including "Furqan" and said he may be travelling on a Yemeni passport. It is not known whether he is in the United States or abroad, the statement said.
Photographs of the faces of the suspected ringleader and a dozen associates were posted on the FBI's website asking for the public's help in locating them.
The fourth alert issued since the September attacks blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network also named 16 possible associates of Mr al-Rabeei, saying most of them were Yemeni nationals but that some may be Saudi or Tunisian.
The FBI alert did not specifically link the alleged plot to the al-Qaeda guerrilla network.