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LONDON, Feb 20 (AFP) - The al-Qaeda terrorist network, widely accused of causing the September 11 atrocities in the United States, is far from destroyed and is preparing a new phase of activity, Western intelligence officials warned in interviews with the Financial Times Wednesday.

"Al-Qaeda is not destroyed. It's still a very serious threat and it is already making efforts to regroup," a US official told the business daily.

"There are individuals reaching out, trying to assess the situation. They are not going to surrender," he warned.

Frank Spicka, head of terrorism at Interpol, the global police network, added: "Even if (alleged al-Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden were killed, this is an organision that can carry on. The head might be cut off but the body is already too extensive to die with it.

"There is growing evidence that many individuals were evacuated from Afghanistan before the (US) military offensive. It's safe to assume that many of them have entrenched themselves elsewhere in the world," he said.

Guillaume Dasquie, a French anti-terrorist expert and editor of Intelligence Online, told the paper: "Many of the arrests since September 11 were the result of old work on people monitored over years. But there is now a network being reconstructed in Europe ... more secretive, more radicalised and with a greater capacity for violence."

A Western intelligence source added: "One of (the) biggest is the threat from unidentified sleepers placed prior to September 11. If you consider that the attacks of September 11 were years in the planning and months in their preparation, it is quite possible that another terrorist operation could be in the pipeline -- and the endgame could be as early as tomorrow."

A French intelligence officer said: "No one is feeling comfortable that we're on top of it" while a security analyst added: "They've (the United States) caught quite a few foot soldiers, most of whom have no contact with the decision-making of al-Qaeda. It's debatable just how much the US-led offensive has contributed to our detailed knowledge of al-Qaeda as it is today."

A Western intelligence officer warned: "Trying to get to grips with the threat is going to be a long, painstaking process. It's not going to come quickly. If the public is looking for weekly round-ups they are going to be disappointed." 

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