American citizens in Malaysia were advised yesterday to maintain a high level of security after the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur received death threats. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad later assured Americans that they need not fear for their safety. He said Malaysians would 'not be violent' to Americans in the country. The threats came after two Muslim terrorists were convicted over the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing and a Pakistani, also Muslim, was convicted of murdering two CIA employees. US Embassy press attache Jim Warren said two telephone calls were made to the mission in the morning threatening American citizens. One caller, speaking English 'with an accent' threatened to kill four Americans in Malaysia. Mr Warren said the Embassy was unable to assess the credibility of the threats. However, it had sent out a notice to Americans in Malaysia informing them of the calls and advising them to maintain a high level of security awareness. Mr Warren said that, to his knowledge, it was the first time a 'very specific threat' of this kind had been directed at the Embassy. Analysts said the reference to 'four Americans' suggested a link with an incident in Karachi on Wednesday, when four Americans and their Pakistani driver were shot dead in a daylight ambush. That attack came one day after Mir Aimal Kansi was found guilty of killing two CIA workers and jailed for 20 years in the US. But the death threats also follow signs of rising anti-Western feeling in Malaysia, stemming partly from the regional financial crisis blamed on foreign - especially US - speculators. Anger towards Americans mounted this week with a move by Congressman Robert Wexler to have the US House of Representatives approve a resolution calling on Dr Mahathir to resign or apologise over alleged anti-American and anti-Semitic remarks. Jewish groups around the world were outraged at Dr Mahathir's reported remarks that a Jewish conspiracy was behind the regional financial turmoil. Dr Mahathir said he had only drawn attention to the coincidence that two of the nations affected, Indonesia and Malaysia, had mainly Muslim populations while leading US financier George Soros, who he blamed for regional currency depreciations, was Jewish. The Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, said the tone of the Wexler resolution had exceeded the norms of diplomatic engagement. He said he would table a motion in Parliament condemning Mr Wexler's resolution and expressing confidence in Dr Mahathir. Opposition parties have also attacked the resolution. The president of the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Service Association, Johari Mat, described it as 'arrogant' and 'high-handed'. Members of the youth wings of Government parties demonstrated outside the US Embassy yesterday, protesting against Mr Wexler's resolution and the threat of US sanctions against Petronas, the national oil company, and its French and Russian partners in an Iranian project. The Petronas issue has further fuelled anti-American feeling in Malaysia. The fate of the Wexler resolution will not be known for at least 11 weeks, during which Congress will be in recess and relations between Malaysia and the US seem likely to remain strained.