US execution 'may trigger attacks'

Aimal Khan Kansi (also known as Mir Aimal Kansi) was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of two Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employees in 1993.

The execution is scheduled to be carried out on November 14.

The State Department said attacks could target the United States or its foreign interests.

"The US Government continues to receive credible indications that extremist groups and individuals are planning additional terrorist actions against US interests," the department said in a statement.

"Such actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations."

The statement said that targets "may include facilities where Americans or possibly other foreigners are generally known to congregate or visit, such as residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, outdoor recreation events or resorts and beaches".

Some embassies and consulates may close temporarily amid the threats, the department added.

Middle East deaths

The warning follows last month's killing in Amman, Jordan, of US Agency for International Development official Laurence Foley, who was shot at point-blank range outside his home.

In October, a US Marine was killed and another was wounded in Kuwait when two alleged Muslim militants gunned them down during US military exercises on Failaka Island.

And almost 200 people - mostly foreigners - died in the October 12 Bali nightclub bombings, which have been blamed on a group with links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

The US responded to these attacks by stepping up its security.

But the State Department warned that heightened protection inside the US could motivate extremists to select overseas targets.

"Terrorist groups do not distinguish between official and civilian targets," the warning said.

"There is a possibility that American citizens may be targeted for kidnapping or assassination."

Kansi protests

Kansi's 1997 trial and subsequent sentencing sparked protests in the Muslim world, despite overwhelming evidence against him.

The son of a wealthy Pakistani family, Kansi worked as a courier in the Washington area while waiting for his asylum application to be processed.

He used a Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifle to gun down Lansing Bennett, 66, and Frank Darling, 28, as they sat in their cars in traffic outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Three other people were wounded.

He bought a one-way ticket to Pakistan hours after the shooting and left the next day.

Kansi eluded a global manhunt for four-and-a-half years before the FBI tracked him to a Pakistani hotel and arrested him.

After he was captured, he confessed to the shootings. He was reported to have called the killings vengeance for American interference in Muslim countries.