WASHINGTON - U.S. military forces in the Gulf region have been put on their highest state of alert based on a threat of possible attack by anti-American guerrillas linked to Saudi-exile Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that forces in the region had been put on Threat Condition Delta on Thursday based on a "non-specific" but credible threat against Americans in the region.
The alerts resulted from information gathered by U.S. intelligence on forces linked to bin Laden, one U.S. official said. "There was credible terrorist threat information. It suggested that something could possibly happen shortly, but there is no specificity in the way of a target or a location," the official said.
The officials said U.S. warships in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. 5th fleet, had been ordered to sea and that a U.S. Marine Corps training exercise in Jordan was being cut short for safety.
A State Department official, who also asked not to be identified, also said that the United States would warn Americans abroad on Friday of an increase in the risk of attacks on U.S. citizens, facilities or interests.
The State Department official said the worldwide caution under preparation would note the U.S. indictment on Thursday of 14 people in connection with the 1996 bombing of an American military housing complex in Saudi Arabia. That bombing killed 19 U.S. servicemen.
The U.S. official said in response to questions that the military alert in the Gulf, latest in a series of cautionary steps in the region over the past year, was in response to a credible report that an attack might be made against American military or civilian personnel.
A high level of alert requires base guards and troops as well as families of service personnel to carefully watch for any threatening or unusual activities. In worst-case scenarios, U.S. warships leave their bases and put out to sea and troops are confined to their bases.
U.S. military forces in Bahrain were put on their second-highest state of alert, Threat Condition Charlie, at the end of May following threats of a possible attack.
The United States subsequently moved FBI and Navy investigators from the port of Aden in Yemen to the Yemeni capital of Sanaa for their safety. The FBI investigators, who were looking into last October's devastating bombing attack against the destroyer USS Cole in Aden harbor, were subsequently removed from the country.
The Cole, one of the world's most modern warships, was almost sunk when an explosives-laden small boat blew up and tore a hole in its side as it refueled in Aden harbor.
There have been no charges in connection with the attack, which killed 17 American sailors.
Thursday's indictments in the Khobar Towers bombing, the first after an intensive five-year investigation, were brought days before the fifth anniversary of the attack in which a powerful truck bomb ripped through a U.S. military housing complex at Khobar near Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia.
"The indictment explains that elements of the Iranian government inspired, supported and supervised members of Saudi Hizbollah" engaged in preparing the attack, Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing the charges.
The indictment did not name or charge any members of the Iranian government. The United States has long accused Iran's Islamic government of backing international terrorism.
Tehran has denied any involvement in the Khobar Towers attack, saying such charges are made by people who want to stop development of good relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The defendants, some of whom are still at large, were 13 members of the pro-Iranian Saudi Hizbollah, or "Party of God," and a Lebanese man, identified only with the fictitious name "John Doe," who allegedly helped build the bomb.
The charges in the federal grand jury's 46-count indictment included conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, bombing resulting in death and murder of federal employees.
