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US Embassy in Rome to Reopen Soon
The United States said Sunday it remained vigilant over the threat of a terrorist attack on its Rome embassy and would open the facility to the public as soon as possible.
It fell short of saying when exactly the offices would reopen and it appeared unlikely that this would happen before Tuesday.
The US embassy was closed Friday morning after American intelligence received reports of an imminent attack, possibly by a group of Algerian extremists linked to Saudi millionaire Osama Bin Laden.
"We continue to monitor carefully the security situation and hope to be able to reopen the offices to the public as soon as the situation allows," said a statement released by the embassy Sunday evening.
Earlier, a source at the embassy said the offices would return to normal in a "short time," probably Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in Washington US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told CNN, "It's true we were and we are worried, not only about the embassy but also about (our) other facilities in Italy."
Security has been beefed up this weekend at and around the American consulate offices in Milan and Naples, as well as American military bases in Naples, Aviano and Maddalena.
The latest threat of attack coincided with the opening of the trial in New York against Bin Laden's organization for the 1998 bomb attacks on American embassies in Africa.
Sources inside Italian secret services spoke of four possible scenarios for an attack on the embassy building.
The terrorists' most likely approach would be to use a missile launcher with a laser guiding mechanism so that the attack could be carried out from a considerable distance, the sources said to Italian media.
Another possibility was to use a sniper with a telescopic lens able to pick off a specific target, possibly a person, from a distance.
The sources said two other approaches mentioned in the Italian press -- a suicide bomber walking into the building or driving a explosive-packed vehicle into it -- were probable impossible because of the tight security around the building.
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