There are growing concerns that an al Qaeda affiliate could use a new generation of liquid explosive, currently undetectable, in a potential attack, according to two senior U.S. government officials briefed on the terror threat that has prompted the closing of nearly two dozen U.S. embassies.

Though the Transportation Security Administration has long been concerned about liquid explosives being used in potential devices -- as it was during the failed Christmas Day bombing in 2009 -- the new tactic allows terrorists to dip ordinary clothing into the liquid to make the clothes themselves into explosives once dry.

"It's ingenious," one of the officials said.

Another senior official said that the tactic would not be detected by current security measures.

The officials said the new technique is believed to have been developed by the Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), home to notorious alleged bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri. Al-Asiri is suspected of being the mastermind behind several devious explosive devices including theunderwear bomb and surgically implanted body bombs.

Al-Asiri was listed today among Yemen's 25 top terrorists, who the Yemeni government said were planning to carry out operations in the capital, Sana'a. The Yemeni government is offering 5 million Yemeni rials, or $23,000, for information leading to the capture of any of the terrorists.

Last month Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole revealed details about a new and improved version of the underwear bomb, also thought to be al-Asiri's work, that he said would "possibly" have been discovered by TSA screening. That bomb was given to a double-agent last year, who gave it to western intelligence services.

READ: U.S. Hunts Al Qaeda Bombmaker's Proteges

The TSA declined to comment specifically on the new liquid device, but an official there said, "As always, our security posture, which at all times includes a number of measures both seen and unseen, will continue to respond appropriately to protect the American people from an ever evolving threat picture."

"I am not in a position to discuss any intelligence around this current threat. But, as a general matter TSA screens both passengers and carry-on baggage for metallic and non-metallic prohibited items, including weapons and explosives. To do this, TSA uses the best available imaging technology to safely screen passengers for any concealed items," the TSA official said.

Nearly two dozen U.S. embassies throughout North Africa and the Middle East were closed Sunday after the U.S. intercepted communications between the leadership of AQAP and al Qaeda's remaining leadership in Pakistan, which suggested a major operation was underway, senior U.S. officials said. The diplomatic posts are expected to remain closed this week.

In addition to the new liquid bomb, a U.S. official said American spy agencies are concerned the attack could use what some call "Frankenbombers," suicide bombers who could carry an improvised explosive device sewn into their body cavity.

Sunday on "This Week," Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-MD — the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee — said the intercepted communications called for a "major attack."

"It's a very credible threat and it's based on intelligence," Ruppersberger said. "What we have to do now is the most important issue, is protect Americans throughout the world."

Along with the embassy closings, the U.S. government is taking precautions by ramping up the use of federal air marshals on U.S.-bound flights.

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A Yemeni soldier stops a car at a checkpoint in a street leading to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen …

Air cargo coming from Europe is under even more scrutiny by security services, one of the senior officials told ABC News, adding that intelligence analysts' best guess at the moment is an attack being planned against U.S. targets in Yemen or Pakistan. Both countries host U.S. Special Operations, counter-terrorism and intelligence officers targeting Al Qaeda with drones and direct action.

A Federal Aviation Administration notice issued last week also warned about a "significant risk to civil flight operations in Yemen" from terrorists armed with man-portable surface-to-air missiles.

Terror Threat, Mass Jailbreaks: An Al Qaeda Comeback?

The multiple embassy closings has thrust al Qaeda back into headlines around the world, shortly after the group garnered international attention for allegedly taking part in a series of mass jailbreaks last month.

Friday the international police organization INTERPOL released a "global security alert advising increased vigilance for terrorist activity" following the jailbreaks. INTERPOL said that al Qaeda was suspected to be involved in several of the plots and asked its member countries to help determine if they were coordinated or linked.

Following the May 2011 death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, top U.S. officials said that the core leadership of al Qaeda appeared to be on the ropes and, to quote President Obama, "on the path to defeat."

"Their remaining operatives spend more time thinking about their own safety than plotting against us," he said in a speech this May.

But Obama noted the "emergence of various al Qaeda affiliates," including AQAP which was the "most active in plotting against our homeland."

Nada Bakos, a former CIA analyst who was part of the team that hunted Osama bin Laden for years, told ABC News that any suggestion al Qaeda as a whole was down and out and is now seeing a resurgence is wrong. Instead, she said the group has just been undergoing a metamorphosis.

"An ideology has tentacles. That's why it's hard to predict how or if it will grow," she said. "Each of these groups [al Qaeda affiliates] are funded and operate independently, but they all share the same ideological platform that central al Qeada has propagated since the 1990s."

Seth Jones, associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation, testified before Congress last month that despite the "weakness" of central al Qaeda, "there has been a net expansion in the number and geographic scope of al Qaeda's affiliates and allies over the past decade, indicating that al Qaeda and its brand are far from defeated."

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA officer who led the hunt for bin Laden before his retirement in 2004, went further, telling ABC News that he believed al Qaeda really hasn't changed since bin Laden's death.

"I think the guys on the ground [local affiliate commanders], day-to-day tactical decisions were made there, where they always have been," he said. "Core al Qaeda lays down the guidelines to keep everybody pointed at the enemy."

Scheuer said he believes al Qaeda is more dangerous under its currently leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, than it was under bin Laden. Zawahiri, Scheuer said, may settle for smaller U.S.-based operations that would have a much smaller body count than a 9/11-type operation that bin Laden aspired to repeat.

Any idea that al Qaeda is on the way out, Scheuer said, is "completely politicking."

ABC News' Lee Ferran contributed to this report.

Communist Party makes a comeback ... in Japan

A smiling, smartly attired 30-year-old woman sits at an expansive table in a meeting room decorated with simple elegance on the fourth floor of a modern office building in central Tokyo.

Only the sunflower broach – an anti-nuclear symbol – on the woman’s suit, and perhaps that the large calligraphy scroll on the wall behind her that isn’t hung perfectly straight, betray the fact that this isn’t a scene from corporate Japan. Yoshiko Kira doesn’t look like she intends to dismantle capitalism, but this is the headquarters of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), and she is one of its rising stars, and that’s her plan.

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party cemented its grip on power with a victory in the upper house elections on July 21, the unlikely other winners were the Communists. Ms. Kira was one of the party’s newly elected lawmakers who saw the JCP raise its representation in the House of Councilors from six seats to 11, giving it a large enough bloc to propose legislation. She was the first Communist to win in the five-seat Tokyo constituency in 12 years, while another young JCP candidate won in Osaka, the party’s first victory there in 15 years. Overall, the Communists came in second to the ruling party in terms of votes collected in Japan’s two giant metropolises.

How? Part of the reason has to do with the deterioration of the main political parties.

DISARRAY

What had been the main opposition, the left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan – which spent three years in government until its defeat in December's general election – is in almost utter disarray.

Two of the founding members have left the party, while the third, Naoto Kan – the prime minister at the time of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters – has just been suspended from the party for three months after supporting an independent candidate in the recent election. Some voters appeared to have seen the Communists as the only party able to counterbalance the nationalism of the Abe administration and its talk of amending Japan’s pacifist Constitution.

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso caused consternation in some quarters this week when he appeared to suggest, during a speech to a conservative think tank, that the current controversy around the constitution could have been avoided if Japan had changed it in secret, as was done in Nazi Germany.

“When I was a child there were a lot of books in my house with pictures of the war and the atomic bombing. I used to worry that planes flying overhead might be carrying bombs. Then one day my mother told me that Japan can’t have wars anymore because of the Constitution, and I thought I was lucky to be born in this country,” Kira says. “But now the Abe government wants to change the Constitution so that Japan can start wars again.”

“It’s not just about war. When I was looking for work I applied to a large number of companies, and was told during interviews that hiring a woman was a risk. I realized there were many things about Japanese society that need changing,” says Kira.

ONLINE MASCOT CHARACTERS

Founded in 1922, the JCP is the oldest political party in Japan, and has enjoyed constant representation in parliament for longer than any other. But until recently, its image was one of older activists and it struggled to attract younger voters.

July's elections were the first in Japan where online campaigning was permitted, and it was the JCP that is widely seen as having made best use of it. As well as savvy leveraging of social networks and video streaming platforms, the party created a series of online mascot characters that addressed individual issues such as the planned consumption tax hike, shady business practices, the heavy US military presence on Okinawa, and constitutional change.

“We were able to use the Net to reach out to younger people, many of whom don’t read newspapers or watch TV much. Through the characters, we could communicate issues simply and appeal to young voters,” says party spokesperson Toshio Ueki, who reports that the characters’ webpages got 1.5 million hits in the weeks before the poll.

While the party has embraced new technology in its campaigning, it can still lay claim to a consistency in both policy and personnel that sets it apart from other parties in Japan. Kazuo Shii has led the party since 2000, during which time Japan has seen nine different prime ministers. And while some politicians have turned anti-nuclear since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant, the JCP was always against nuclear power.

'REFRESHING'

“One of the appeals of the Communists has been the clarity and consistency in their pledges; people find it refreshing,” suggests Takashi Inoguchi, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo. “It’s healthy for the political development of the country that there is a party that is at least clear in what they say, whether you agree with their positions or not.”

Although Japan is not yet on the road to a workers’ paradise, having struck a chord with the electorate, the JCP may now have the opportunity to establish itself as the most cohesive opposition to the current government.

“If we did take power, the JCP wouldn’t try to implement a Communist economy immediately. It would require huge changes and we would seek the support of the people for each step,” Kira says. “And we would want to use the best parts of the current economic system, too.”

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The political party is making a comeback in a nation better known for its dealings in the corporate world.
Why now?

LAWTELL, La. (AP) -- About 100 homes remained evacuated Monday as officials worked to clean up the site of a 26-car train derailment near the small community of Lawtell, about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge.

State police said crews were working to clear U.S. Highway 190 which was blocked by the accident. The Union Pacific train went off the tracks Sunday around 3:30 p.m.

Company spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said one of the railcars was leaking sodium hydroxide, which can cause injuries or even death if it is inhaled or touches the skin. The other was leaking lube oil. But state police said the leaks were contained.

Gov. Bobby Jindal flew into St. Landry Parish on Sunday night to inspect the scene.

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About 100 homes remained evacuated Monday as officials worked to clean up the site of a 26-car train …

"Anytime you have chemicals leaking into the environment, that's a serious issue," Jindal said. "Nobody knows the extent of the damage. We'll get that in the next 24 hours."

Another damaged car was carrying vinyl chloride, Espinoza said, but it was not leaking. Vinyl chloride is extremely flammable.

There were two people on the train, an engineer and a conductor. They were not hurt. Espinoza said a man who was near the derailment initially did not want to go to the hospital in an ambulance, but decided later to go get checked out for a burning sensation in his eyes.

"We're bringing in equipment to make sure we move all of this in the safest manner," Espinoza said.

The railroad company doesn't know what caused the derailment. Espinoza said the railroad ties were renewed in 2011 and the track was inspected about three hours before the accident.

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About 100 homes remained evacuated Monday as officials worked to clean up the site of a 26-car train …