BANGALORE, India - A leading Indian astrologer who says she predicted the September 11 attacks in the United States believes Washington's hunt for Osama Bin Laden may end up in frustration.

Gayatri Devi Vasudev, editor of The Astrological Magazine, India's best-known astrology journal, also predicted some tense periods ahead for the United States, particularly in January, with increased violence by attackers.

Vasudev, whose magazine is sold in various nations including the United States, had said in the January issue this year that there would be fundamentalist violence and the "retrogression of Mars ... (could) carry seeds of violence for the White House".

She said that she based her predictions on the relevance of Saturn to the United States and planetary movements this year.

"The ... transits (planetary movements) are such as to frustrate the American efforts to hound out and nab the world's most wanted fundamentalist," Vasudev said in the November issue of the avidly followed journal.

"Nor do these planetary patterns support the deliverance of Afghanistan from the Taliban and restoring of the country to its former king."

The astrologer, who linked the September suicide attacks by hijackers to an astrological opposition between Mars and Saturn, said December 6 and 22, followed by January 13, 15 and 30 represented sensitive planetary positions.

"These periods, and more especially, those of January 2002, can see tensions escalate with terrorist activity pepping up," she said, describing them as "treacherous dates" around which authorities and intelligence agents must be alert.

But Vasudev, whose father and teacher BV Raman built up an avid following for the magazine for decades, said the United States would be in a position to hit back at further attacks.

"A series of Martian aspects will take place in the coming months when terrorist attacks are likely to be met with swift military retaliatory action by the United States," she said.

Vasudev says astrological predictions are scientific in nature and knowing them can help one take corrective action. - Nampa-Reuters