WASHINGTON, Feb 4: Plans for a major terrorist attack have reportedly been disrupted due to arrest of terror suspects, and US plans to subvert other such threats by detaining suspected Iraqi agents, should a war in Iraq begin.

Two newspapers on Tuesday reported the anti-terror moves. The Washington Times said Al Qaeda plans a series of smaller assaults, including the assassination of political figures, before launching a large-scale attack.

The Washington Post reported that the CIA and foreign intelligence agencies were tracking suspected Iraqi agents and planned to forestall any retaliatory acts should the United States go to war with Iraq.

“We and our allies are bracing for a terrorist offensive, and we are keeping track of Iraqi intelligence officers around the world,” a senior US intelligence official told the Post.

The newspaper said the allies were tracking Iraqi agents in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and in Africa. The FBI is reportedly searching for several thousand Iraqi nationals in the United States illegally, who are missing.

Officials said the campaign stems from the suspicion that Saddam Hussein would order terror-style assaults on US interests should Iraq be attacked.

The Post said that CIA Director George Tenet sent Sen Bob Graham, D-Fla., a letter which said Saddam “might decide that the extreme step of assisting Islamic terrorists in conducting a WMD attack against the United States would be his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him.”