Followers of exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden are planning a major attack on U.S and Israeli interests in the next two weeks, the Arabic satellite television channel MBC reported yesterday. The station, monitored by the BBC, broadcast a report from a correspondent in the Pakistani town of Quetta, who said he had met bin Laden two days ago in Afghanistan.

"There is a major state of mobilisation among the Osama bin Laden forces. It seems that there is a race of who will strike first. Will it be the United States or Osama bin Laden?" the correspondent said.

U.S officials said on Friday that forces in the Gulf had been put on Threat Condition Delta based on a non-specific but credible threat linked to bin Laden. The MBC correspondent said he had met bin Laden at an unspecified location some three hours' drive from the Afghan city of Kandahar. He had also talked with some of bin Laden's followers.

"All of them affirm that the next two weeks will witness a big surprise. A severe blow is expected against U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide," the reporter said.

U.S. warships in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, had been ordered to sea and a U.S. Marine Corps training exercise in Jordan was being cut short. Commander Jeff Gradeck, spokesman for the U.S. Naval force in Bahrain, yesterday declined to comment on military movements or security measures.

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 bases.

NBC television reported on Friday there had been at least three threats of attacks on U.S. forces in the Gulf on June 25, the fifth anniversary of the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers bombing, which killed 19 U.S. servicemen.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Thursday in Washington that 14 people had been indicted by a federal grand jury for the bombing in Dhahran, eastern Saudi Arabia. The U.S. government has said it is unaware of any specific threats in response to the grand jury indictment.

A similar worldwide caution has been in effect since May 29 after a New York court convicted bin Laden's associates of bombing U.S. embassies in 1998. U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar said yesterday they were warning Americans to be on guard after U.S. forces in the Gulf were put on the highest alert against an "increased risk of terrorist action".