DUBAI, June 16: Britain has warned of a high risk of a terror attack in the United Arab Emirates, the booming oil-rich Gulf state and regional economic and tourist hub that is home to several million foreigners.

“There is a high threat from terrorism. We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE,” said a travel advice posted online by the embassy.

“Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests,” it said.

The warning posted on Saturday informed Britons in the pro-Western desert nation and key Opec member that they should “maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places.” The UAE is a conservative Muslim nation but has become a major regional tourist hub, attracting millions each year, mainly in the bustling city-state of Dubai which is known for its liberal lifestyle.

While other Gulf countries have witnesses bloody attacks blamed on the Al Qaeda network of Saudi-born terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, the UAE has not been targeted.

“We believe that threat to be high. It was a general threat before,” a British embassy spokeswoman said. “There are a number of factors that came into consideration. The threat level was raised and the travel advisory was amended to reflect that.” No other western embassies have made similar warnings.

Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia has been battling a wave of deadly violence waged by Islamist militants since 2003, including attacks targeting foreigners and key oil installations.Its impoverished neighbour Yemen has also witnessed several attacks claimed by Al Qaeda, and in Qatar, one Briton was killed and 12 people were wounded in a suicide bombing at a theatre near a British school in Doha in March 2005.

The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, were the only countries to recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 1997, but it severed links with the radical Islamist regime in 2001 over its refusal to comply with international pressure to hand over bin Laden.

The British embassy said over one million British visitors travelled to the UAE in 2006, and that more than 100,000 British nationals are resident there, the largest western community in the country.

More than 80 per cent of the population of 5.6 million in the fast-developing UAE are foreigners, according to figures for 2006 published in February.

The influx ranges from poorly-paid construction workers, many from the Indian sub-continent, to hard-partying professionals.

Dubai, one of the seven emirates forming the UAE federation, attracts huge numbers of British investors who invest in its booming real estate sector.

With its skyscrapers, plush hotels, vast shopping malls, beaches and desert tours, Dubai has also become a popular destination for tourists.

Tristan Cooper, Moody’s Investors Service’s Middle East sovereign risk analyst, warned that the threat could potentially damage the robust UAE economy.

“Non-nationals account for over 80 per cent of the population, so yes, it could potentially be hit by a political shock that slowed the inflow of expatriate labour or, in a more extreme scenario, caused resident expatriates to leave the country,” he told the Dow Jones newswire.

“A downturn in sentiment could also damage the country’s robust investment inflows as well as its booming real estate and equity markets,” he added.

The UAE sits on 97.8 billion barrels of oil reserves, which are ranked as the fifth largest in the world. Its economy is estimated to have grown by 7.4 percent in 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund.

—AFP