New embassy bomb suspects charged

More than 200 died and thousands were injured in the attacks

A federal grand jury in the United States has indicted five more men accused of involvement in the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which 223 people died.

Prosecutors say the men, none of whom have been detained, were part of the al-Queda organisation run by Saudi-born Islamic militant, Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden has many Muslim admirers

One of them, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, could be sentenced to death for allegedly playing a direct part in the bombing of the embassy in Nairobi.

The total number of defendants in the case has risen to 21.

The State Department has promised a reward of $5m for information leading to the conviction of the five newest additions to the list.

The first trial, of four men already in custody, is due to begin on 3 January.

USS Cole bomber 'identified'

On the initiative of the US and Russia, the United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on Afghanistan on Tuesday for failing to extradite Mr bin Laden, America's most wanted man.

The bomb attack nearly sank the USS Cole

US officials believe Mr bin Laden instigated the suicide bomb attack in October against a US warship, the USS Cole in Yemen.

He has also been linked to the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York.

US and Yemeni authorities also said on Wednesday they had confirmed the identity of one of the men involved in the suicide attack against the USS Cole.

He was named as Saeed Awad Al-Khamri, a Yemeni national. According to some reports he comes from a province of eastern Yemen where Osama bin Laden's ancestors also hail from.

US alert

Earlier this month, six people were charged with complicity in the bomb attack on the Cole.

The six - all from the Yemeni city of Lahij - are expected to appear in court in January.

However, Yemeni officials have cast doubt on the involvement of Mr bin Laden.

The United States is on alert for possible terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Mediterranean for the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

An aircraft carrier, the USS Truman, has been ordered to cancel a port call in Naples and go to Greece instead.

Guam threat

The French news agency AFP reports that the US territory of Guam, in the Pacific, is also on alert after authorities received an e-mail, purporting to come from representatives of Mr bin Laden, threatening a chemical attack on its international airport.

The e-mail said the attack would take place on Christmas Eve, unless the US agreed "not to harm Afghan people and its allies any more".

Governor Carl Gutierrez said the message was "disturbing" and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating.