Australia reviewing its security warnings, PM says

CANBERRA, Aug 11 (Reuters) Australia will review its national security warning level after a foiled plot in Britain to blow up aircraft bound for the United States, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

But Howard said there was no direct evidence of an impending attack in Australia, which has kept its security warning level at medium, meaning an attack could happen.

''I think there's a heightened danger for a lot of countries, and Australia is one of them,'' Howard told Australian radio. Australia's four-level National Counter-Terrorism Alert system has been set at the second level of medium since soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and will only be increased if Australia believes an attack is likely.

Howard said he had seen intelligence assessments about the British plot but said it was too early to say for certain if militant group al Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks, was responsible.

''It certainly has a lot of similarities. But whoever it is, it's evil and potentially lethal in a quite horrific way,'' he said.

Security has been tightened at Australian airports and Qantas Airways has implemented restrictions on carry-on luggage for flights from Britain and to the United States.

Qantas said passengers could only carry items such as wallets and travel documents in clear plastic bags on the four daily services it operates from London Heathrow. Liquids would be confiscated from passengers on US-bound flights, it said.

Australia is a staunch US ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While Australians have been targeted in attacks on foreigners in neighbouring Indonesia, Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.

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