The US says it will keep a number of embassies in north Africa and the Middle East closed until Saturday, due to a possible militant threat.
Twenty-one US embassies and consulates closed on Sunday.
The State Department in Washington said the extended closures were “out of an abundance of caution”, and not a reaction to a new threat.
Britain said its embassy in Yemen would stay closed until the end of the Muslim festival of Eid on Thursday.
The UK Foreign Office had earlier announced it would shut its mission in the Yemeni capital Sanaa until Tuesday.
Meanwhile US diplomatic missions in Algiers, Kabul and Baghdad are among those which will reopen on Monday, Washington said.
But its diplomatic posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa and Tripoli will remain closed until Saturday.
The US state department also added African missions in Antananarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis to the list, meaning a total of 19 US embassies will remain closed this week.
A state department global travel alert, issued on Friday, is in force until the end of August.
The department said the potential for an al-Qaeda inspired attack was particularly strong in the Middle East and North Africa.
Embassies closed on Sunday, a working day in the Muslim world, included Amman, Cairo, Riyadh and Dhaka.
The embassy closures and US global travel alert came after the US reportedly intercepted al-Qaeda messages.
It has been suggested that they were between senior figures talking about a plot against an embassy.
PLOT
Referring to the Middle East, the state department said: “Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August.”
UK FOREIGN OFFICE
The travel alert called for US citizens to be vigilant, warning of “the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure”.
An unnamed US official has said the threat could be related to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week.
Several European countries have also temporarily shut missions in Yemen.
On its website, the UK Foreign Office is advising against all travel to Yemen and is strongly urging British nationals to leave.
It says there is “a high threat from terrorism throughout Yemen” and “a very high threat of kidnap from armed tribes, criminals and terrorists”.
Source: The Daily Star
The U.S. embassies that have closed are located in the following cities:
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Algiers, Algeria.
Amman, Jordan.
Baghdad, Iraq.
Cairo, Egypt.
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Djibouti, Djibouti.
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Doha, Qatar.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Erbil, Iraq.
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Kabul, Afghanistan.
Khartoum, Sudan.
Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Manama, Bahrain.
Muscat, Oman.
Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sanaa, Yemen.
Tripoli, Libya.
Source: CBNews
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Like it or not, Bangladesh is now formally included in the US worldwide agenda for ‘War on Terror’, the main purpose of which was, and still is, to ‘restructure the world (especially the Muslim world)’ in the image of the western world based on Judeo-Christian civilisation and values, and also to make the world ‘safe’ for investment and unlimited profit by multinational companies.
Bangladesh is a victim of terrorism, perpetrated by some so-called ‘Islamists’ as well as by the so-called armed ‘cadres’ patronised by different political parties including the ruling Awami League. The former group has been reared up by foreign countries including the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, whilst the latter finds shelter within the ruling circles and across the border in India. Both types of terrorists are causing extreme harm to the state and people of Bangladesh, but it is not yet an ‘al-Qaeda’ territory as implied by the US.
It is on record that attempts have been made to portray Bangladesh as a haven for ‘Islamic’ terrorists since 2003 by the reported links of the terrorist outfit JMB with some veterans of Afghan war against Russia. But the questions that have remained unanswered so far are: Who recruited these mercenaries from Bangladesh (and also from other countries) and then transported them to Afghanistan to fight a brutal war against Soviet Russia? Who provided them training in sabotage and warfare, who provided the funds and arms, and who was the main beneficiary?
(Who are now sponsoring and providing arms to the so-called Free Syrian Army, who are in reality foreign mercenaries including al-Qaeda terrorists, to destroy another Muslim country? Is there any doubt about the direct involvement of the US, Israel, Britain, France and their Arabian puppets like Saudi Arabia and Qatar?)
Many analysts have attributed the collapse of.Soviet Union and its disintegration primarily to its total defeat in Afghan war, with unchallenged US strategic hegemony in the world, but what did the Afghan people get? The longest war in modern world (without any immediate end in sight) is still being waged in Afghanistan with unprecedented ruthlessness and barbarity by the so-called promoters of freedom and democracy. The mighty US imperial war machine would be ultimately defeated in that graveyard of all foreign conquerors, but how that would benefit the cause of poor Afghan people?
The people of Bangladesh must think urgently and seriously. They must not be guided by raw emotions but by brain, rationality and logic. If the so-called ‘Islamic terrorism’ raises its head to a significant level, with or without the connivance of foreign powers (US-Israel-India-Saudi Arabia-Pakistan), then this would create an excuse for direct military intervention by the US and/or its local ally India, probably under the cover of the UN.
Inclusion of Bangladesh as a country of potential threat to the US from ‘al-Qaeda’ should not be taken lightly by the government or opposition political parties. It is a very serious development and its true meaning must be understood correctly. The potential foreign intervention on the real or imaginary threat of al-Qaeda presence in Bangladesh can be prevented only by united resistance by all democratic and patriotic forces irrespective of political affiliations. One must guard against the infiltrators and agent provocateurs in different parties and organisations who falsely claim to advance the cause of Islam or secularism, but in fact work to implement the enemy agenda against the state of Bangladesh and her people.