US and UK pull staff out of Yemen amid terror alert
BBC News online -- 6 August 2013
Journalist Adam Baron in Yemen: "There's this belief that something could be coming soon"
The
US and UK governments have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen and
urged their citizens to leave amid concerns over security threats.
It follows the sudden closure of 20 US embassies and consulates on Sunday.This was prompted by intercepted conversations between two senior al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, US media said.
The Pentagon said the US Air Force was flying workers out of the capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday morning.
A global travel alert said: "The US Department of State warns US citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.
Analysis
The Yemeni capital Sanaa is experiencing unprecedented security measures. The interior ministry has deployed hundreds of armoured military vehicles to secure the presidential palace, vital infrastructural buildings and Western embassies in the capital.
A security source confirmed to the BBC that Yemeni intelligence services had discovered that dozens of al-Qaeda members had arrived in Sanaa over the past few days in preparation for the implementation of a large plot. The source described the plot as dangerous and as including explosions and suicide attacks aimed at Western ambassadors and foreign embassies in Yemen, in addition to operations aimed at the Yemeni military headquarters.
A Yemeni military source said the interior ministry had prepared a plan, in co-ordination with the Yemeni intelligence organisations and the anti-terrorism forces, involving "a pre-emptive strike against certain cells suspected of having relations with al-Qaeda, with the aim of thwarting the attack plans".
The source revealed the intensive co-ordination and exchange of information that exists between the Yemeni intelligence forces and those of the West and the Gulf nations, regarding threats from al-Qaeda.
"The department urges US citizens
to defer travel to Yemen and those US citizens currently living in
Yemen to depart immediately."
It added that "the security threat level in Yemen is extremely high".It comes hours after a drone strike killed four suspected al-Qaeda militants in the country overnight, a senior US official has confirmed to the BBC.
In a separate incident, tribesmen say they have shot down a Yemeni military helicopter, killing at least six troops.
The BBC's Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, says the Yemeni capital has been experiencing unprecedented security measures, with hundreds of armoured vehicles deployed.
Our correspondent says a security source confirmed that Yemeni intelligence services had discovered that dozens of al-Qaeda members had arrived in Sanaa over the past few days in preparation for the implementation of a large plot.
The source described the plot as
dangerous, and suggested it was to include explosions and suicide
attacks aimed at Western diplomatic missions and Yemeni military
headquarters.
Both the White House and the US state department have said the current threat comes from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but have refused to divulge further details.
According to the New York Times, the US intercepted communications between Zawahiri and the group's head in Yemen, Nasser al-Wuhayshi.
The paper said the conversation represented one of the most serious plots since the 9/11 attacks.
Washington earlier said the closures in North Africa and the Middle East were "out of an abundance of caution".
A number of US diplomatic posts in the region - including in Sanaa - will remain closed until Saturday.
The United States has ordered its
non-essential embassy staff to leave Yemen immediately and has urged
other American nationals to follow them.
In a statement on its website,
the UK Foreign Office said: "Due to increased security concerns, all
staff in the British embassy have been temporarily withdrawn and the
embassy will remain closed until staff are able to return."
It advises against all travel to the country.Several European countries have also temporarily shut missions in Yemen.
Officials have advised particular vigilance during the festival period surrounding Eid - the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - warning that "tensions could be heightened". Eid will begin on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the sighting of the new moon.
Meanwhile, Interpol issued a separate global security alert at the weekend, citing jail breaks linked to al-Qaeda in nine countries.
The international policing organisation said "hundreds of terrorists" had been freed during breakouts in countries including Iraq, Libya and Pakistan in the past month.
A US state department global travel alert, issued last week, is also in force until the end of August.
AQAP, the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda, has also been blamed for the foiled Christmas Day 2009 effort to bomb an airliner over Detroit and for explosives-laden parcels that were intercepted the following year aboard cargo flights.
| City | Country |
|---|---|
|
Abu Dhabi |
United Arab Emirates |
|
Antananarivo |
Madagascar |
|
Amman |
Jordan |
|
Bujumbura |
Burundi |
|
Cairo |
Egypt |
|
Dhahran |
Saudi Arabia |
|
Djibouti |
Djibouti |
|
Dubai |
UAE |
|
Jeddah |
Saudi Arabia |
|
Khartoum |
Sudan |
|
Kigali |
Rwanda |
|
Kuwait City |
Kuwait |
|
Manama |
Bahrain |
|
Muscat |
Oman |
|
Port Louis |
Mauritius |
|
Riyadh |
Saudi Arabia |
|
Sanaa (UK, French and German embassies also closed) |
Yemen |
|
Tripoli |
Libya |
Labels: Al-Qaeda, Middle East, North Africa, Security, Terrorism, United States
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, August 06, 2013
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