Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden is personally plotting large-scale terror attacks against the US in the near future, the CNN reported on Friday.

Quoting senior intelligence officials, CNN said Laden's top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri is assisting him in planning out the attacks.

"This type of plotting, this type of operational activity, is being done with the direct direction and authorization of that senior leadership," CNN quoted one official as saying.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said intelligence acquired from arrested terror suspects from Europe and West Asia resulted in the new warning.

"We lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack," he said. "But along with the CIA, FBI and other agencies, we are actively working to gain that knowledge."

"The planned attack is an effort to disrupt the democratic process before November's (presidential) elections," Ridge said.

Agencies