Cheney: More al-Qaida attacks 'almost a certainty'

The chance of more al-Qaida attacks against US targets is ‘almost a certainty’, US Vice President Dick Cheney said today.

"US officials do not know when the attacks might occur or what the targets might be," Mr Cheney said.

He also said the United States could not have anticipated that terrorists would turn four commercial airliners into missiles on September 11, as he responded to criticism that the Bush administration ignored warning signs about those attacks.

US officials are once again evaluating a growing body of intelligence suggesting another large scale al-Qaida attack may be in the planning for Europe, the Middle East or the United States, government officials said on Saturday.

"I think that the prospects of a future attack on the US are almost a certainty," Mr Cheney told Fox News Sunday.

He continued: "It could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week, it could happen next year, but they will keep trying. And we have to be prepared."