The government has dismissed a US warning of possible terrorist attacks and assured travellers that it has taken adequate security measures to thwart any threats, reports said today.

Officials told The Star that there was nothing substantively new in the latest US travel advisory warning against travelling to Malaysia, especially to Sabah state o­n Borneo island.

"They should not just talk about threats but let us know so that we can act," Deputy Defence Minister Shafie Apdal was quoted as saying.

Always o­n guard

Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung said there was no indication that Malaysia faced a possible attack and assured the public that all adequate security measures had been taken.

"We are always o­n guard against possible threats and we have enough security measures to detect possible terrorist threats," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

"We assure locals and foreigners that it is safe to travel to and around Malaysia, including Sabah."

Senior officials in Sabah told the daily that some 2,000 security personnel had been deployed at strategic locations and they were exchanging intelligence with Indonesia and Philippines o­n possible threats in the region.

A spokesman at the US embassy here said that Wednesday's travel advisory, released two days after deadly suicide car bombings in Riyadh that killed 34 people and were blamed o­n Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, was merely an extension of a previous statement issued last November.

"Nothing has changed substantively from the previous statement," he said, adding that the United States was merely reiterating its concern.

Exercise caution

The latest advisory said Washington remained concerned about possible terrorist attacks in Malaysia, especially in Sabah where members of the banned Jemaah Islamiah group, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, have been active.

It called o­n US citizens in Malaysia, particularly those planning to visit Sabah, to "exercise extreme caution."

It also said the threat of attacks similar to bombing o­n Indonesia's Bali island, which killed more than 200 people last October, existed throughout Southeast Asia, pointing to the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf Islamic group as another source of danger.

Malaysia was among several Southeast Asian states which bristled at a series of US travel warnings last year, upset that their portrayal as possible sites for terror attacks could damage their economies and vital tourism industries. AFP