New alert on terror threat in US

MIAMI - United States authorities have made a new and urgent call for public help to find a Saudi-born man who they say could pose a "very, very serious" threat as part of an al Qaeda plot against the United States.

Stepping up their search with an appeal to the US Muslim community for information, the FBI said 27-year-old Adnan El Shukrijumah was a friend of a man serving prison time for plotting to blow up Florida power plants.

He was not charged with a crime but was wanted for questioning,

FBI officials said he was believed to be involved in "al Qaeda terrorist activities".

"It is very important, very important, that we find him soon," said Hector Pesquera, special agent in charge of the Miami FBI office, yesterday.

Agents have received at least 200 calls from the public since issuing a "be on the lookout" alert for El Shukrijumah last week.

The alert was based on information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, now being held in detention.

"El Shukrijumah has been identified by senior members of the al Qaeda organisation as a very, very, very serious threat to US interests here and abroad," Pesquera said.

El Shukrijumah's father and brother, who live in the suburbs west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, have said El Shukrijumah lived in Florida from 1995 to 2000.

They last heard from him several months ago, when he was living and teaching in Morocco.

FBI officials said they had no information indicating he was in south Florida now.

Pesquera confirmed reports from El Shukrijumah's relatives that El Shukrijumah was a friend of Imran Mandhai, a Pakistani immigrant who, with naturalised US citizen Shueyb Mossa Jokhan, was convicted last year on charges of plotting to bomb power substations and a National Guard armoury in Florida.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy was part of what the two men saw as an Islamic holy war.

Leaders of Florida's Muslim community met FBI officials on Monday and urged Arabs and Muslims in the United States to co-operate in the search for El Shukrijumah.

They also asked US agents to respect Muslims' civil rights and vigorously pursue hate crimes, saying increasing numbers of Muslims and Arabs in Florida were complaining of harassment.

- REUTERS