Following evidence that terrorists with Al Qaeda affiliation are planning attacks, the United States on Friday issued a worldwide travel alert for its citizens and ordered closure of its embassies and consulates in nearly 20 countries of the Muslim world to close on Sunday, a working day in many of these countries.
Noting that the potential for terrorism was particularly strong in the Middle East and North Africa, the State Department said Al Qaeda and its affiliates were continuing to plot attacks both in the region and beyond. Prior to the travel alert, the department had announced that a number of US embassies and consulates would remain closed or would suspend operations on Sunday as a “precautionary” step.
“The department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations that indicates we should institute these precautionary steps,” said Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf. But Congressman Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN: “It’s my understanding that it is Al Qaeda-linked, all right, and the threat emanates in the Middle East and in Central Asia.”
Citing an unnamed US intelligence source, CBS News reported the existence of “a real threat”, albeit not in a specific location, somewhere in the Middle East and other Muslim countries, including North Africa and South Asia. The embassies will close in response to “a specific threat against a U.S. embassy or consulate,” ABC News reported, citing a senior US official, who called it a “concerted effort” to target an embassy or consulate in a Muslim country. “We just don’t know which one,” the official was quoted as saying, while another official noted there could be other targets as well, not just embassies.
The US embassies in Afghanistan and Bangladesh are among the ones set to close on Sunday, according to a list being circulated by the media outlets. The other US missions are said to include the ones in Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Abu Dhabi, Yemen and libya.
While the closure notice for embassies is specifically for Sunday, the missions could remain closed for additional days, depending on the official assessment, the State Department indicated.