Lagos — The United States embassy in Nigeria warned yesterday of a possible attack against diplomatic missions in Lagos.

In a message to US citizens living in Nigeria, the embassy said it had received reports of a possible strike against missions located close to the US Consulate General in Lagos, situated in the Victoria Island neighbourhood.

"US Mission Nigeria has received reports about possible attacks against diplomatic missions in Lagos located on Walter Carrington Crescent," the message said.

It said the Nigerian police had increased their vigilance in the neighbourhood and called on US citizens to report any suspicious activity.

The US embassy message gave no details of the nature of the reports it had received regarding the possible attack.

But it noted that US government facilities worldwide remained in a state of heightened alert because of "the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against Americans and US interests".

A similar warning issued on September 6, 2007 said Western interests in Nigeria were at risk of "terrorist attack" but nothing of such has happened till date.

The official warning, in a message for US citizens in Nigeria, also gave few details, but said potential targets included official and commercial installations in the capital Abuja and the commercial city of Lagos.

"The US Mission in Nigeria has received information that US and other Western interests in Nigeria are currently at risk for terrorist attack," the statement had said.

In Washington, a US official had said the advisory was based on "very nonspecific threat information".

"I'd steer you away from the idea that this was some major terror plot and I'd kind of point you more in the direction of things associated with Nigerian local kinds of actions," said the US State Department official, who had asked not to be identified.

But former Information Minister John Odey had dismissed the warning as offbase and negating the government's efforts to forge stronger ties with Washington .

"We consider it unfair stigmatisation," Odey said then. "They don't have any reason whatsoever, because the reason they are quoting, they were referring to 2006 and it is very, very unfair."

"We know that they should understand our problems now that Nigerians are collaborating with government on all aspects of endeavour, particularly as it pertains to issues of national security. We expect that they should have understanding with us, like we also have understanding with them on other issues about terrorism and all that in their country, which of course have a worse dimension than the security problems that we have," he added.

The first of such purported threat came on June 2005 when foreign embassies were closed when a diplomatic source said intelligence indicated that foreign militants posed a specific threat to the US presence in Nigeria. Osama bin Laden had named Nigeria as a candidate for liberation.

A US military spokewoman, Major Holly Silkman, had said in Dakar, Senegal that "there was some kind of terrorist threat made" adding that the threat was called in.

A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs then said that the Nigerian government had begun "to investigate and address the situation, in collaboration with the United States authorities."

In Washington, State Department Spokeswoman, Angela Aggeler, described the Abuja embassy as closed. Her words: "The consulate in Lagos is closed. Abuja remains open, but has minimal staff."