Bin Laden asks Zarqawi to make US a target - source

WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has fairly recently asked his chief ally in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to consider the territory of United States as a target for terrorist attacks, a US counterterrorism official said on Monday.

"There has been communication between bin Laden and Zarqawi with bin Laden suggesting to Zarqawi the US homeland as a target," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the communication was "a fairly recent development" and contained no specific threat to the United States. But the official declined to provide details for fear of compromising US anti-terrorism efforts.

The US department of homeland security has warned state officials around the country that the government had received nonspecific information about al Qaeda's plans to attack the United States.

Homeland security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department had sent out a classified intelligence bulletin to state homeland security advisers over the weekend to give details of "recent credible but nonspecific" threat information.

"This nonspecific information reiterates al Qaeda's desire to potentially target the homeland," Roehrkasse said.

He said the information was still being analysed by the intelligence community but it was not enough to cause any increase in the terrorism alert level.

"Based on this information, the Department of Homeland Security has no plans to raise the threat level," he said.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant, is a leading figure among Islamic insurgents who are waging a deadly campaign against US-led forces in Iraq.

CIA director Porter Goss warned the senate intelligence committee this month that the insurgency posed an emerging international terrorism threat and said Zarqawi was trying to establish a safe haven in Iraq from which to operate against Western nations and "apostate" Muslim governments.

"The interesting thing here is bin Laden reaching out to leverage additional resources wherever he can find them to fulfill his goal of striking the homeland," the counterterrorism official said on Monday.

- REUTERS