World-Home Washington: The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has warned that al-Qaida is planning "something terrible" in the United States or abroad, a view also echoed by the Saudi Ambassador in Washington.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters on May 20 that senior US officials would decide whether they needed to raise the terror threat level following the warning.

The alert level now stands at yellow, two steps below the highest level, red. It was lowered from orange last April 16. Yellow represents "an elevated risk", orange a "high risk", and red a "severe risk", reports 'Dawn'.

In another development, the state department relayed a warning from the US Embassy in Riyadh that more terrorist attacks might be "imminent" in Saudi Arabia.

The Embassy and US consulates in Dhahran and Jeddah have been closed following the threat warning. The Embassy's website says officials have received credible information that further attacks are being planned against unknown targets in Saudi Arabia.

The FBI alert bulletin says that communication intercepts of al-Qaida suspects abroad indicate a possible terrorist attack in the US. Earlier, the Saudi Ambassador in Washington told reporters that during a recent visit to the kingdom he also heard of "high-level" communication intercepts about a possible terrorist attack in the US.

"My gut feeling tells me something "big" is going to happen here or in America," said Ambassador Bandar bin Sultan.

Britain and Germany also said they were closing their Embassies in Saudi Arabia.

"We have received credible information that further terrorist attacks against unspecified targets in Saudi Arabia are being planned and may take place imminently," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said in London.

ANI