19 US diplomatic posts to stay closed this week
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US diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Muslim world will be closed at least through the end of this week, amid online “chatter” about terror threats, the State Department said. One US lawmaker on an intelligence committee called it the most serious threat he had seen in several years.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the decision to keep the embassies and consulates closed is a sign of an “abundance of caution” and is “not an indication of a new threat.”
Diplomatic facilities will remain closed in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, among other countries, through Saturday. The State Department announcement on Sunday added closures of four African sites in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius. The US decided to reopen some posts yesterday, including those in Kabul and Baghdad.
Interpol, the French-based international policy agency, has also issued a global security alert in connection with suspected al-Qaida involvement in several recent prison escapes including those in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.
The Obama administration announced last Friday that the posts would be closed over the weekend and the State Department announced a global travel alert, warning that al-Qaida or its allies might target either US government or private American interests.
The intercepted intelligence foreshadowing an attack on US or Western interests is evidence of one of the gravest threats to the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to several lawmakers who made the rounds on the weekend talk shows.
“This is the most serious threat that I’ve seen in the last several years,” Senator Saxby Chambliss told NBC on Sunday. “Chatter means conversation among terrorists about the planning that’s going on — very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.”
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