Al-Qaeda Threat: US, UK Closes Global Embassies, Consulates Following Intercepted Terrorist Attack Message, Eyes on Yemen
World powers U.S. and UK have closed down a number of its global network of embassies and consulates, following an intercepted terrorist message that stipulated the al-Qaeda terrorist group is out to stage yet another massive worldwide attack.
As per the US State Department, from Aug 5 to Aug 10 (Monday to Friday), the following U.S. posts will be closed:
1) U.S. Embassy Manama, Bahrain
2) U.S. Embassy Bujumbura, Burundi
3) U.S. Embassy Djibouti, Djibouti
4) U.S. Embassy Cairo, Egypt
5) U.S. Embassy Amman, Jordan
6) U.S. Embassy Kuwait City, Kuwait
7) U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Libya
8) U.S. Embassy Antananarivo, Madagascar
9) U.S. Embassy Port Louis, Mauritius
10) U.S. Embassy Muscat, Oman
11) U.S. Embassy Doha, Qatar
12) U.S. Embassy Kigali, Rwanda
13) U.S. Consulate Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
14) U.S. Consulate Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
15) U.S. Embassy Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
16) U.S. Embassy Khartoum, Sudan
17) U.S. Embassy Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
18) U.S. Consulate Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19) U.S. Embassy Sanaa, Yemen
The UK, meantime, has closed its British embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and will remain closed until after the Muslim festival of Eid finishes which is later this week, the Foreign Office said.
Australia has no plans to close the operations of its embassies in at least across the Middle East, but the Foreign Ministry said it remains in close contact with its U.S. and UK counterparts.
"We are in close contact with the U.S. and the UK and they have shared information with us," a spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr, told the Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend.
Over the weekend, operatives from U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted a number of al-Qaeda messages, labelled as "chatter," which alleged of plotting a terror scare against an embassy.
"Chatter means conversation among terrorists about the planning that's going on - very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11," Senator Saxby Chambliss from the Senate Intelligence Committee told NBC's Meet the Press.
"I can tell you ... this is the most serious threat that I've seen in the last several years," he said.
The U.S. State Department, however, in issuing the list of closed embassies and consulates as well as in releasing the global travel warning to Americans, said its pronouncement was "not an indication of a new threat stream."
It was "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."
Although still unclear as to where, when and how the attack would be carried out, Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger from the House Intelligence Committee told ABC's This Week that the intercepted "chatter" involved "high-level people in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" and that it was a "major attack."
"We're doing what is necessary to protect our people," Rep. Adam Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday.
Meantime, British nationals in Yemen have been urged to leave the country as soon as possible. The UK Foreign Office had likewise released a travel advisory against Yemen.
If you don't leave the country now while commercial carriers are still flying, it is extremely unlikely that the British government will be able to evacuate you or provide consular assistance," it said.
Yemen is home base for al-Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate.