The United States on Tuesday again warned Americans overseas they could be targeted by groups with links to Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden after four of his followers were convicted of the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, reported Reuters.
The US State Department issued an updated "worldwide caution" after the convictions, and said US government facilities remained at a heightened state of alert.
But it said it was not aware of any specific threat in response to the verdicts, Reuters added.
"Nevertheless, US citizens are urged to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness to reduce their vulnerability," the department said in a statement, cited by the agency.
The Manhattan federal jury's verdict marked the first US convictions based on crimes orchestrated by Bin Laden, who was indicted as the mastermind behind the simultaneous bombings.
Two of the four defendants were found guilty of directly participating in the bombings that ripped through the embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and they next face separate trials to determine if they will be executed, said CNN.
All four were convicted of every charge lodged against them in the 302-count indictment that describes a broad conspiracy aimed at murdering Americans and attacking US embassies and military facilities.
The men's lawyers said they would appeal.
Two of the four defendants were also found guilty of murder and could face the death penalty: Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al 'Owhali, 24, a Saudi who was accused of carrying out the bombing of the embassy in Kenya, and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, a Tanzanian, convicted of carrying out the Tanzania bombing, added news service.
The other two defendants, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, a Jordanian, and Wadee Al Haj, 40, a Lebanese-born naturalized American, face life in prison on their conviction of the conspiracy charge.
The August 7, 1998 blasts killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
The jury began deliberations May 10, working its way through more than 302 counts involving the alleged anti-American conspiracy, the bombings, and each victim killed in the blasts.
All four defendants were accused of participating in a worldwide conspiracy to kill Americans and destroy US property allegedly led by Bin Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda.
During the trial, which began in January, prosecutors called more than 90 witnesses and presented hundreds of pieces of evidence, including clothing laced with bomb residue, pieces of the mangled trucks used to carry the bombs and boxes of documents, with plane tickets and passports, which prosecutors say link the four men to the conspiracy, said CNN – Albawaba.com
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