BBC Friday, 7 September, 2001, 12:11 GMT 13:11 UK US issues Japan terror warning

Some 48,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan

The US embassy in Tokyo has warned American residents in Japan of a potential threat from "terrorist actions".

The embassy said in a statement that it had unconfirmed reports that US military facilities or locations visited by military personnel could be targeted.

A similar warning has been issued in South Korea, which is also home to US troops.

US embassy spokesman Patrick Linehan said the threat was "credible" but could not give further details.

But the BBC's correspondent in Tokyo, Charles Scanlon, said that US officials speaking privately said they immediately suspected it was in connection with the Middle East.

This type of warning was also issued in June after members of Islamic extremist group Hezbollah were indicted for the bombing of US institutions in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Linehan said that such warnings were rare in Japan, noting that the last such statement was part of a worldwide caution issued by the US State Department last New Year's Eve.

Publicising danger

The US said that the warning was issued under the "Lockerbie rule" under which it undertakes to share any such alerts with American citizens. The US has been blamed for not publicising security information which it received shortly before the bombing of a Pan American airliner over Scotland in 1998.

Of the 120,000 Americans who live in Japan, nearly 48,000 play an active role in the US military.

The US military's presence in Japan is controversial. There have been repeated crimes involving US soldiers on the southern island of Okinawa, where about half of the American forces are stationed.

In July a US airman was charged with the rape of a young Okinawan woman in a parking lot .

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001

Answers

sure am glad my relatives have moved back to the states! hope the attacks aren't on our soil...

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001