As the US temporarily closed its missions in Middle East and North African countries amid terror threats, a top US officer has said that Washington has intercepted al-Qaeda plot to target not only Americans, but also citizens from Western countries.
"There is a significant threat stream, and we're reacting to it," General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the ABC news.
"That part of it is unspecified. But the intent seems clear. The intent is to attack Western -- not just the US - interests," he said.
Congressman Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger, said the terror threat is credible and is based on intelligence reports.
"The most important issue is to protect Americans throughout the world, whether they're in the intelligence community, our military or people in the State Department and citizens living throughout the world," said Ruppersberger, who is ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
"Well, we can only say the intelligence that we get. And, by the way, intelligence is the best defence against terrorism. Those operatives are in place because we've received information that high-level people from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula are talking about a major attack. And these are people at a high-level," he told the ABC news.
"Now, whatever that intelligence is, we act upon it because our first priority, again, is to protect the Americans in other parts of the world," he added.
