Bin Laden's organization, Al-Qaeda, is planning strikes in the near future, US officials said. The threats, while "credible," were non-specific, indicating no particular geographic region or target. They caused the military to go on high alert and the State Department to issue the worldwide warning to US citizens. However, they were unconnected to threats that caused the FBI to withdraw its agents investigating the USS Cole bombing in Yemen. Bin Laden is the prime suspect behind the suicide bomb attack that killed 17 US sailors on the destroyer Cole in Aden harbor, but no definitive link with him has been established. .
US embassies in the Gulf were open for business as usual yesterday, although witnesses said security was tight. American citizens in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said they had received written cautions from the State Department urging them to be vigilant and to keep a low profile. There are around 30,000 US citizens in Saudi Arabia, according to the US embassy, and a further 13,000 in Kuwait.
The US embassy in Bahrain reopened to the public after closing on Saturday, a working day in the Islamic world. Embassies in Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were open as normal. Witnesses in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said security around American interests, already tight, was little changed or slightly upgraded. The region has been under a security alert since May.
Arabic satellite TV channel MBC reported on Saturday that Bin Laden's followers were planning a major attack on US and Israeli interests during the next two weeks. The NBC network reported at least three threats of attacks on US forces in the Gulf on Monday June 25, the fifth anniversary of the Khobar bombing in eastern Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 US servicemen. Fourteen people have been indicted for the bombing in the US, though Saudi Arabia has said it will proceed with its own trial regardless.
