United States intelligence has detected "enhanced activity" that points to a possible attack against the US or American interests abroad, the White House says.
And the FBI has given a warning of a possible plot by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to blow up apartment buildings.
The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies had intercepted a series of al Qaeda messages hinting at an attack as big or bigger than the one on September 11.
"There's just a lot of chatter in the system again," a senior official said.
Quoting unidentified intelligence and law enforcement officials, the Times characterised the communications as vague but disturbing. The intercepted messages were so general that they had left President George W. Bush and counterterrorism officials uncertain about the timing, location or method in this potential attack.
A White House official said: "There has been information of concern, enhanced activity of concern" detected in recent weeks and months.
"We are always concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack. The President and senior Administration officials ... have told the country that there always exists the possibility of a terrorist attack against the country, and the country's interests. We as American citizens want to be vigilant, but also live our lives," the official added.
Vice-President Dick Cheney said last week that "without a doubt a very real threat of another perhaps more devastating attack still exists".
Separately, the FBI received information that al Qaeda operatives were "considering renting apartments in unspecified areas of the United States and then planting explosives", said spokeswoman Debbie Weierman. The information was "nonspecific" and "uncorroborated".
During the last few days, the FBI passed the potential threat on to its field offices and local officials and managers and owners of apartment buildings, Weierman said.
The FBI issued no official alerts and put out the notices "only in an abundance of caution", but there was "no reason to believe [the threat] has gone past the discussion phase", she added.
Officials cited by the Times said the intercepted messages represented some of the most credible intelligence gathered on al Qaeda's plans since September 11.
"We remain concerned that there could be an attack," an intelligence official said.
Bush has faced criticism over disclosures that a series of possible clues about al Qaeda's plans last year went unheeded.
- REUTERS
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Apartments 'next terror target'
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