KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the latest warning by the United States on the possibility of terrorist attacks in Malaysia could amount to an economic sabotage, IRNA reported.

The prime minister said he did not know if there was an intentional plan to sabotage Malaysia's economy by issuing such a public warning and naming the country, but the fact was that the move would hurt the country's economy.

"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.

"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 spoil our economy," he told newsmen after the breaking of fast at the Finance Ministry on Thursday night.

Mahathir, who is also finance minister, said as far as he knew, the Malaysian government had not been directly notified about the latest warning.

The United States, he said, had no right to pass judgment on other countries when that country itself was a very dangerous place and not free from the threat of terrorism.

The latest warning issued by the U.S. State Department said attacks similar to last month's Bali bombing could take place in other Southeast Asian nations, including Malaysia.