According to a United Press International exclusive published Dec. 28, top Pentagon and other government officials said the Singapore government recently tracked down a cell of terrorists and arrested 12 alleged al Qaida members suspected of planning an attack on the island nation's deep-water Navy port. The terrorist lead was said to be uncovered during military operations in Afghanistan.

Asked to comment on the story, the Ministry of Home Affairs said Wednesday in a written statement: "We have not received any information from US intelligence leading to any raid by Singapore authorities over a 'terrorist nest.'"

"We also do not have any information of any terrorist action planned, by any individual or group, against the USS Carl Vinson," the ministry added.

The US aircraft carrier was scheduled and did use the Singapore port later in December.

Asked whether the statement was a denial of the terrorist plot itself, a ministry spokeswoman replied, "This is all we have to say."

UPI's sources said two suspected terrorists escaped arrest, and a military official said Singapore officials have also failed to locate two tons of explosives intended to be used in the attack or attacks.

The Carl Vinson and its crew of 5000 -- fresh from more than three months' flying attack missions into Afghanistan -- visited the port as scheduled for three days over the Christmas holiday, according to a Navy official. Moviegoers have caught glimpses of the Carl Vinson in the recently released film Behind Enemy Lines.

Despite the timing, Pentagon and Navy officials said there was no direct connection between the Vinson's visit and the planned attack in Singapore, the exact targets of which remain unknown.

In October 2000, suicide bombers attacked the destroyer USS Cole while it was refueling in Yemen's Aden harbor. The bombing, which killed 17 sailors, has been linked to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network, also fingered in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

A UPI report Jan 3 from Washington said Marines and special forces soldiers are combing caves and vacated buildings for intelligence -- documents, videotapes and other materials that could provide information about al Qaida's global network and future terror plots -- "some of which ... has been fruitful in stopping terrorist acts, we believe, around the world," Myers said.

One of those foiled plots was a planned attack on Singapore by a resident al Qaida nest. The US military passed on to the government of Singapore intelligence gathered in Afghanistan indicating an attack was being planned. Singapore arrested 12 alleged al Qaida members in mid-December, just weeks before a US aircraft carrier was scheduled to visit a deep-water port there. Two alleged terrorists evaded authorities and Singapore has yet to recover two tons of explosives planned to be used in the attack, Pentagon and CIA officials told United Press International last week.

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