CAIRO Ñ The United States has warned Americans in Egypt that their safety is no longer assured.

The warning followed attempts by Egyptian demonstrators to overrun the U.S. embassy in Cairo and the American Cultural Center in the port city of Alexandria. Egyptian police repelled the demonstrators and one person was killed and 153 injured in Alexandria on Tuesday, Middle East Newsline reported.

"The U.S. embassy urges all American citizens in Egypt and particularly those in the Alexandria area to exercise extreme caution," the embassy in Cairo said in a statement.

Egyptian officials said the harsh police response was meant to stop the students from arriving at a conference hall near the American Cultural Center. The conference was being attended by 1,300 oil executives and government representatives, most of them from abroad.

Western diplomatic sources said the U.S. concern focuses on the prospect that Americans might be targeted in Egypt. There are an estimated 35,000 Americans in the country and anti-U.S. demonstrations appeared to intensify on Wednesday in Alexandria, Cairo and cities in the Delta region.

"We saw things that we had never ever expected to see Ñ the car burnings in Bahrain, half a million people in Morocco, demonstrations in Egypt," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

Another concern is that Islamic militants in Egypt might be directed by Palestinian groups to attack U.S. targets in the Middle East, including Egypt. The State Department has issued warnings to Americans in such countries as Bahrain, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

For its part, Egypt has become a target of protests in Syria. Syrian students have stoned the Egyptian embassy and called on Cairo to sever relations with Israel in demonstrations that are said to have sparked tension between the two Arab countries.

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