Direct al-Qaeda Threat Closes Embassies In Yemen

Times Online reports Britain and the United States have closed their embassies in Yemen today in the face of threats from al-Qaeda.

Security chiefs at the two fortress-like buildings in the new part of Sanaa, the capital, would decide whether to re-open the embassies tomorrow, officials said.

“We’re not going to take any chances” said John Brennan, the head of the White House’s counter-terrorism department. He said there had been indications that al-Qaeda was planning to carry out an attack against a target in Sanaa, possibly the US Embassy.

US officials admitted that American intelligence had been behind two air strikes in Yemen before Christmas that killed at least one local al-Qaeda leader.

via Western embassies close in Yemen after ‘direct al-Qaeda threat’ – Times Online.

US Embassy in Sudan Warns of Terror Threat

The U.S. embassy in Sudan is warning of a threat by Islamist extremists to attack the Sudanese government as well as “Western interests.”

A statement on the U.S. embassy website warned that a post on a radical Islamist website threatened an attack on the Sudanese government. It indicated the threat is related to the recent death of a suspected Islamic extremist.

The statement provided few details of the threat, but warned that calls for violence against the government as well as “Western interests” could also be made during prayers on Friday, and urged Americans in Sudan to exercise caution.

Sudan has been on the U.S. government’s list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993. Sudanese officials have been pushing Washington to remove Sudan from the list in recent years, as the country has cooperated in sharing intelligence as part of the war on terror. The United States says terrorists remain active in the country.

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