THE US: Responding to information from a Guantanamo prisoner in Cuba and one in Afghanistan, the FBI has again warned of the "credible" possibility of an imminent attack on the US. It has issued a new list of terrorist suspects. Patrick Smyth, Washington Correspondent, reports
The US Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, speaking in San Antonio, Texas, urged all citizens and law enforcement officers to "be on the highest alert" .
The FBI on Monday distributed photographs of the men believed to be involved and police nationwide were put under orders to detain them. The bureau published the alert and photographs on its public web site, www.fbi.gov.
Mr Ashcroft described the men as "individuals who may be associated with Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network".
Defence sources told CNN that the chief-named suspect, Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei (22), from Yemen, had been named by a prisoner in Guantanamo who has referred to his source as one of the prisoners being held in Afghanistan.
The latter was then questioned and a list of names issued. The FBI also listed at least 14 aliases for al-Rabeei, including "Furqan The Chechen". Officials say they do not know if any of the men are in the US and do not have any indication of possible targets.
In Yemen, an Interior Ministry official said Yemeni authorities were attempting to gather information on al-Rabeei and his associates at the request of the US.
Before Monday, FBI and homeland security officials had issued three general alerts urging Americans to be cautious and on the lookout for possible terrorist activities. The last was issued on December 3rd and was supposed to last through the holidays. It has since been extended through the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and is to expire March 11th.
Speaking at a congressional hearing, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, yesterday told the Senate Budget Committee there was no war plan for Iran and North Korea. But he said Mr Bush was exploring options for dealing with Iraq.
PA adds: An Algerian pilot, Mr Lotfi Raissi, who has been accused of training the suicide hijackers who crashed into the Pentagon on September 11th, walked free from court yesterday in London after being granted bail at an extradition hearing.
Mr Raissi (27), who has been held in jail for five months, emerged from the top security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court complex in south-east London to applause from family and friends.
Although no terrorism charges have been brought against him, US officials said he was still being investigated.
Meanwhile, it was claimed yesterday that captured Taliban fighters banged on the walls of a sealed container and begged for water and air during a journey to prison which some did not survive.The account was given by a truck driver who claims anti-Taliban fighters forced him to transport the prisoners. "They were yelling, 'Please, brother, please open the door. We are dying'," said the driver, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The conditions during the November convoys are part of wider scrutiny into prisoner treatment. The International Committee of the Red Cross is among the groups conducting enquires into the reports of suffocation deaths en route to the prison in Shibergan, a two-hour journey by road west of Mazar-e-Sharif.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, may visit Afghanistan next month and talks about prison transfers could be on her agenda.
The UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said previous estimates that 324,000 displaced people were living in Afghanistan's largest refugee camp were over the mark by some 200,000