Terror alerts are in force around the world; Australia and New Zealand have just warned their nationals to be on their guard in South East Asia: Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor and Brunei.

The US has issued warnings of possible terrorist attacks throughout East Africa and parts of South East Asia in the wake of the triple suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia.

The US state department also warned of a “continuing concern” of attacks against Americans in Malaysia, particularly in the state of Sabah.

Thailand has dismissed travel warnings by Australia and New Zealand, which say the country is at risk of an attack by Islamic militants. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra said that there was “nothing to worry about” in Thailand and that he “was confident that his country was not a terrorist target, since it was not an enemy of any particular terrorist group. I will ask the foreign ministry to notify the Australian embassy that they should not overreact”.

Malaysia has also hit back at its inclusion in a travel warning issued by the US. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that insecurity resulting from the Iraq war had made the United States “afraid of its own shadow”.

The US state department has recommended that Americans defer non-essential travel to Kenya and to carefully review plans to visit East Africa in general. All flights between the UK and Kenya have been suspended after warnings of new terrorist threats in the east African country. It is thought that Al Qaeda, who are believed to be responsible for the bombings in Saudi Arabia this month may be preparing an attack. All US and UK bases in Kenya have been given added security by the country's government.