Washington ? The FBI quietly warned its agents nationwide of unconfirmed information from a captured senior al-Qaida official that terrorists may be planning attacks against supermarkets or shopping centers, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

The warning, sent Tuesday to all FBI field offices and relayed to some state and local police, cautioned that the information was unsubstantiated and did not include specific information about possible targets, timing, numbers of people involved or any particular method of attack.

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The warning said that al-Qaida operatives inside the United States may be planning attacks against civilian targets, possibly including banks, shopping centers, supermarkets and shops, law enforcement officials said. The information came from Abu Zubaydah, the highest-ranking al-Qaida terrorist leader in U.S. custody, they said.

The information that prompted the new warning was considered less reliable than last week’s about possible attacks on banks in the northeastern United States.

“We’re trying to downplay this,” said one law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The latest alert, like last week’s, did not change the nation’s threat status, which remained at “yellow,” using the new color-code system. Yellow represents the midrange. To rise to the next-highest orange alert, a threat must include a specific time and date and be corroborated and credible.

Unlike last week, the latest warning was issued only to FBI field offices, which quietly relayed the information to local joint-terrorism task forces typically made up of state and local police agencies.

“There is no official alert,” a law enforcement official said.

Also Wednesday, the State Department alerted Americans abroad that terrorists may be preparing to strike, especially in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula.

A department statement said Americans should be careful and that “softer targets” may be selected by terrorists because security at U.S. installations has been strengthened.

Updating a similar statement issued two weeks ago, the department provided no details of a potential threat to U.S. citizens and interests.

The statement cited the crisis in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and anti-American demonstrations.

“The U.S. government continues to receive information about potential terrorist actions against U.S. interests abroad,” the State Department said. “There is growing concern that individuals may be planning terrorist actions against U.S. citizens and interests in the region of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula.”

On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Yemen said it had received information that a terrorist attack in Yemen might be imminent.

A notice posted on the embassy’s Web site said there were no details as to the possible target, adding that the embassy was taking a number of additional security measures.