WASHINGTON The United States on Friday sidestepped Malaysia's outraged response to a State Department warning that the country could fall victim to a Bali-style terror attack.

State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker declined to be drawn into the controversy during his on-the-record briefing, after Malaysian police asked Washington to provide information to back up its travel warning on Wednesday.

A Malaysian official had earlier denounced the US warning as "paranoid and baseless."

But a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity late Friday praised Malaysia's cooperation in the US anti-terror campaign.

Working closely

"Prime Minister Mahathir (Mohamad) has spoken publicy about Malaysia's views and his statements reflect the perspective of the Malaysian government," said the official.

"We are committed to working closely with the Malaysian government on counter-terrorism issues including on information sharing and law enforcement.

"We appreciate the Malaysian government's cooperation with us on counterterrorism, we will continue our close cooperation with Malaysia on this crucial issue."

US officials have defended US travel warnings which have stirred up fierce reaction among Southeast Asian governments who fear their tourism industries and economies could be severely damaged.

They say they are duty bound to warn US citizens of threats to their safety.

The State Department warning Wednesday specifically mentioned Malaysia as a country where Westerners could be at risk of attack by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network.

It reiterated concern about the activities of the Abu Sayyaf group, which operates in the southern Philippines, close to the Malaysian state of Sabah.

Malaysian national police chief Norian Mai on Friday sought details from the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur over the alert which he described as "baseless."

Protest against warning

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Bawawi urged the foreign ministry to take steps to lodge a protest against the US warning.

"Malaysia is disappointed with their action," he said.

Mahathir rapped the US for disregarding Malaysia's cooperation in the anti-terror war. He said the warning could amount to economic sabotage.

"They should tell us who, where and when so that we can take action to prevent such attacks from happening instead of making such baseless allegations," Mahathir was quoted as saying by The Star .

"But instead of telling us, they went and issued a public warning like that. Are they prepared to take a bet that such an attack will happen here? If it does not happen, the warning will only damage our economy." AFP