U.S. extends embassy closings in Muslim countries upon "serious threat"

English>>World

Editor's Pick

U.S. extends embassy closings in Muslim countries upon "serious threat"

(Xinhua) 14:30, August 05, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Sunday announced the extended closure of its 19 diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa to cope with potential terrorist attacks against Western interests.

These embassies and consulates will remain closed through Monday to Saturday, said the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Four new diplomatic posts, in Rwanda, Mauritius, Burundi, and Madagascar, were added to the closure list and will be closed for the week.

Psaki said the decision was made "out of an abundance of caution" and on the occasion of the Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, when Muslims began their "feast of breaking the fast" after the holy month.

"This is not an indication of a new threat stream, merely an indication of our commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect our employees including local employees and visitors to our facilities," Psaki said.

The United States initially closed 21 diplomatic missions on Sunday, among which nine are to be open on Monday, including Baghdad, Kabul and Herat.

"Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August," the alert said.

The State Department announced the closures through the weekend on Thursday, and on Friday it issued a global travel alert warning of possible terrorist attacks "occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula."

The Interpol warning came one day after the Washington alert, saying the jailbreaks across nine countries, including Iraq, Lybia and Pakistan, were linked to al Qaida.

Following the U.S. embassy closures, Britain, France and Germany closed their offices in Yemen for at least two days, and Canada shut its mission in Bangladesh Sunday.

The Washington alert on Friday was issued after they intercepted electronics communications in which senior al Qaida operatives discussed strikes on U.S. interests in the Muslim world. The intercepts, part of the surveillance program revealed by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, helped gather intelligence about the threat.

"This is the most serious threat that I've seen in the last several years," Saxby Chambliss, top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press".

The White House has held regular inter-agency meetings in the past few days over the threat, as the Obama administration is still reeling from the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, in which U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.