TULSA, OKLA. ? The police chief here made surprising comments about terrorists living in Tulsa and Kansas on Wednesday in a speech to the local Rotary Club but left without providing an explanation.

The remarks puzzled other law enforcement officials, including those of the FBI and Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security.

Police Chief Dave Been said foreign terrorists with ties to al-Qaida were in Tulsa and Wichita, Kan., and he said he had seen evidence that terrorists wanted to attack America’s heartland.

“Yes, there are al-Qaida cells in Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas, that can be very dangerous,” Been told the Downtown Tulsa Rotary Club, according to clips aired on KRMG. “Of course, I can’t go into specifics.”

Been did not respond to interview requests from The Associated Press. Tulsa police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Presley referred calls to Been.

Kerry Pettingill, director of the state homeland security office, told the AP he did not know why Been would make such comments because he doesn’t know the sources on which the chief based his claims.

“I’m not aware of any investigation into any active al-Qaida cells in Oklahoma, period, or even active supporters or members of al-Qaida,” Pettingill said in a phone interview.

Jeff Lanza, an FBI spokesman in Kansas City, Mo., the bureau’s office that covers Kansas, doubted that Osama bin Laden’s terror network has a cell in Wichita and downplayed Been’s assertion about attacks on the Plains.

“There is no indication of an al-Qaida cell in Wichita, Kan.,” Lanza said. “In terms of the vulnerability issue, terrorists can strike anywhere. We are no more vulnerable in Wichita than we are in other parts of the country.”

Gary Johnson, the FBI’s spokesman in Oklahoma, said the bureau would not be able to comment about Been’s remarks until Thursday because the state’s agent in charge was on vacation and its counterterrorism expert was out of the office with an illness.

But Johnson told the AP that there has been no change to previous FBI statements that the threat of terror in Oklahoma is not imminent and that the FBI won’t comment on any counterterrorism investigations it routinely conducts.

At the rotary club meeting, Been said he could not explain his comments further, citing security reasons, KRMG reported.

“We have bad guys here in Tulsa, terrorists that can do us harm,” Been said, adding that he had “very good information that terrorists really do want to hit the heartland, the middle United States, because we don’t feel very vulnerable.”