US, Interpol issue worldwide alert

United States has put out a worldwide alert asking its embassies and organizations to be on alert for possible reprisals from al-Qaeda operatives and sympathizers after killing of Osama bin Laden by American forces in a compound near Pakistani capital Islamabad.The US State Department put a worldwide alert shortly after President Barack Obama announced bin Laden's death in a military operation. Simultaneously, the global police agency Interpol also called for increased security measures, warning that the death of bin Laden could provoke reprisal attacks around the world.Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble urged "extra vigilance" from "law enforcement authorities to a heightened terror risk from Al-Qaeda affiliated or Al-Qaeda inspired terrorists as a result of Bin Laden's death." These warnings come in the wake of threats by Al-Qaeda terrorists to unleash a "nuclear hell storm" on the West if their leader bin Laden is nabbed or killed. A senior al-Qaeda commander had claimed that the terror group has stashed away a nuclear bomb in Europe which will be detonated if bin Laden is ever caught or assassinated, according to whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.In the wake of this operation, there may be a heightened threat to the homeland and to US citizens and facilities abroad, a senior Administration official said. "Al-Qaeda operatives and sympathizers may try to respond violently to avenge bin Laden's death, and other terrorist leaders may try to accelerate their efforts to strike the United States," the official said.