WASHINGTON, Oct 30: Americans confronted the frightening possibility of a second wave of terror attacks on Tuesday, as authorities said “credible” intelligence suggested Osama bin Laden’s network could be involved in a feared future strike.

Exactly seven weeks after terror assaults on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, security services countrywide were on high alert, after the government warned late Monday new attacks could be looming.

Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge said that the public warning was the product of “credible information” from “multiple sources.”

“You can fairly assume that the experts view this information as somehow related to Al Qaeda or (Osama) bin Laden else we wouldn’t have ramped it up,” Ridge told reporters.

“We believe the United States could be targeted this week, this next week or so, with a terrorist attack or attacks,” Ridge said at a White House news conference.

“This particular threat notice occurred primarily because there were multiple sources that the (intelligence) community concluded was very credible. It gave a timeframe around which we thought terrorist attacks could occur.”

Ridge earlier warned that US energy companies, among other locations seen as possible terrorist targets should be on high alert.

“We need to talk to our energy companies,” Ridge said in an interview on CNN.

“We need to just ramp up our ability to be alert, ramp up our security and deal with what may occur.”

Energy utilities including nuclear power stations and electricity generating dams have been mentioned as possible new targets for terrorists, following the strikes using hijacked airliners on September 11.

While issuing a threat of more terror strikes, the administration says it is hampered because it has no information on the location of any possible attack or of the kind of weapon likely to be used.

But Ridge said that 18,000 law enforcement personnel were now on high alert, saying that security staff at shopping malls, airports and elsewhere were taking extra precautions.

Intelligence was pouring in amid unprecedented cooperation between foreign intelligence agencies, he said.

An intense security operation was about to swing into operation in New York, where Bush was to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in game three of baseball’s World Series between the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bush’s appearance, in what will be a security nightmare for his Secret Service detail, appears calculated to show Americans that despite the fear of more attacks, they should not be cowed by terrorists.

“It helps to keep the fabric of our country strong,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Fresh warnings of possible terrorist attacks have prompted the Secret Service to return Vice President Dick Cheney to an undisclosed secure location, in a precaution which would secure the presidential chain of command should Bush be assassinated.

Cheney moved to the site late Monday. He has spent significant time out of the public eye since September 11.

As fears mounted of new terrorist action, officials said anthrax traces had been found at postal facilities in Virginia and Washington and confirmed two new cases of the disease in New Jersey and New York, as the bioterror scare escalated.

Authorities have so far not managed to link the anthrax scare to the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, but also have not ruled out the possiblity.

EVACUATION: The US embassy and consulate in Cairo were evacuated on Tuesday after “a suspicious substance” was found on the premises, an embassy spokesman said.

An Egyptian police source said the scare was caused by a large envelope that had been delivered by courier from the United States. It contained several smaller envelopes in which were found the suspect substance.

The buildings, in central Cairo, were immediately evacuated in what the embassy spokesman said was a “routine procedure” followed in cases of alert. The personnel were told not to return until given the green light, the police source said. The parcel was sent for analysis to the US Navy laboratory in Cairo, the state news agency MENA said.—AFP