Lawmakers urge US admn to raise terror alert level

"I've just written to Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, urging that he focus on whether we need to raise our threat level," Representative Jane Harman, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC television.

The US intelligence community, Harman said, has assessed the threat in bin Laden's new message and "takes it seriously."

The United States last week rejected a truce offer from al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and despite a threat of more attacks, authorities said they will not raise the national alert level.

In an audiotape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera Arabic television network, bin Laden warned that attacks on the "heartland" of the United States were being prepared.