Intelligence gleaned from the computer of a captured al-Qaeda operative showed that the Islamist terror group is planning a new wave of attacks in the United States and Britain, a Pakistani minister said today.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's Information Minister, said plans were found in e-mails on the computer of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian captured last week who is a key suspect in car bomb attacks on two US embassies in Africa six years ago.

"We got a few e-mails from Ghailani's computer about (plans for) attacks in the US and UK," Sheikh Rashid said.

But whereas US officials publicly detailed the threats and took measures to seal off financial institutions such as the New York Stock Exchange and World Bank, British officials declined to disclose or discuss any specific new threats.

"We keep our own threat levels under constant review and if a specific threat arises we would review the level accordingly," a Home Office spokesman said.

"We still say the threat remains real and serious. We do not discuss the threat level. If a specific threat arises we would inform the public."

The United States put three major cities on Code Orange alert - second only to Code Red in the five-stage alert system - after intelligence suggesting al-Qaeda was planning attacks on major financial icons.

The move was announced at a hastily-called news conference on Sunday night by Tom Ridge, the US Homeland Security Secretary.

US police started sealing off areas from potential truck bombers. Trucks were banned from today from Manhattan-bound side of the Williamsburg bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.

Commercial vehicles were also banned from the inbound of the Holland Tunnel from New Jersey and police set up metal fences around the Prudential Plaza building in Newark.

Among the potential targets were the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, Citigroup headquarters in Manhattan and Prudential Financial Inc's offices in Newark.

"The quality of this intelligence - based on multiple reporting streams, in multiple locations - is rarely seen, and it is alarming in both the amount and specificity of the information

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