US warns of worldwide terrorism risk

The US government has issued a worldwide warning of the risk of possible new terrorist attacks in the wake of last week's deadly bombings in Turkey. The threat comes not only from al-Qa'ida but from other Islamic groups, of which little is known.

The US government has issued a worldwide warning of the risk of possible new terrorist attacks in the wake of last week's deadly bombings in Turkey. The threat comes not only from al-Qa'ida but from other Islamic groups, of which little is known.

The focus of the alert is outside the US, where the colour-coded threat assessment is being left unaltered at orange, the middle point of the five-level gauge, indicating an "elevated" danger of attack. Even so, a second catastrophic attack to follow 11 September 2001 "could not be ruled out" within the US.

The fear in Washington is that terror organisations are preparing strikes as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan draws to an end, and the Western holiday season approaches. "We are seeing increasing indications that al-Qa'ida is preparing to strike US interests abroad," the State Department said. Privately, intelligence officials were blunter. In the words of one, indications of strikes against US targets were "off the charts".

A separate warning, issued by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, notes al-Qa'ida's "continued interest in aviation" - a reflection of the security services' concern that, even though passenger air traffic is safer than it has ever been, a terrorist group could use a cargo plane to target key infrastructure.

Although al-Qa'ida is linked to one of two groups that have claimed responsibility for the attacks in Turkey, intelligence specialists believe that Osama bin Laden's group may have been merely general inspiration rather than the specific guiding hand of the four suicide bombing strikes in which more than 50 people died.

Both Britain and the US have warned their citizens of further attacks in Turkey, and are both advising against non-essential travel there, but the threat extends much further.