WASHINGTON, Feb 12: The United States or US interests in the African nation of Yemen could be the target of a terror attack on Tuesday (Tuesday night or Wednesday morning in Pakistan), the FBI said, citing information gleaned from an alleged Al Qaeda member held by US forces.

In the most specific alert about possible attacks that the FBI has issued since the Sept 11 strikes on America, the bureau said evidence an attack may be soon emerged from interrogations of prisoners captured in the Afghan war.

The plot is believed to be led by a Saudi-born Yemini man.

“Recent information indicates a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests in the country of Yemen on or around February 12, 2002,” the FBI said on Monday.

While mentioning the names and nationalities of the “extremely dangerous” suspects, the alert did not specify possible targets.

Information about a planned attack came from captives that the United States is holding from the war in Afghanistan because of suspected links to al Qaeda or the toppled Taliban regime. The captives are being questioned by U.S. authorities.

“A detainee passed second-hand information about a possible threat to U.S. interests, but he was unclear whether it was in the United States or in Yemen,” a U.S. intelligence official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

The FBI said one or more operatives may be involved in the strike and named a suspected ringleader as Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, born in 1979. He was identified as a Yemeni man who also has a number of aliases.

The alert listed more than a dozen aliases for al-Rabeei including “Furqan” and said he may be traveling on a Yemeni passport. It was not known whether he was in the United States, the statement said.

Photographs of the suspected ringleader and 12 of his 16 alleged associates were posted on the FBI’s Web site (http://www.fbi.gov).

Al-Rabeei, identified in the caption by one of his aliases “Al-Rabi’i,” had a neat, full beard and dark hair with a slightly curly fringe. Most of the others also appeared to be young men with neatly trimmed beards.

The alert — the fourth issued since the September attacks blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network — said that most of al-Rabeei’s 16 possible associates were Yemeni nationals but a few may be Saudi or Tunisian.

The FBI said it sent its alert to law enforcement agencies around the world. “Law enforcement officers are requested to stop and detain these individuals (in the Web site) and to contact the FBI for further guidance,” the FBI statement said.

The FBI alert did not specifically link the alleged plot to the al Qaeda guerrilla network.—Reuters