| U.S. Closing Embassy in Saudi Arabia |
Friday, November 07, 2003 The U.S. Embassy will close its offices to review security procedures on Saturday, while embassy officials said terrorists are close to launching an attack in the desert kingdom. The embassy in the capital of Riyadh and the U.S. Consulates General in Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed, according to a warden message issued by the embassy on Friday. "The embassy continues to receive credible information that terrorists in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom," stated the message. "The embassy strongly urges all American citizens in the kingdom to be especially vigilant when in any area that is perceived to be American or Western." They will then advise the American community when the review is completed and when normal operations will resume. Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a warning to journalists in Afghanistan on Friday. "The United States Embassy in Kabul has received credible information that Taliban (search) forces are actively searching for American journalists to take hostage for use as leverage for the release of Taliban currently under United States control," the embassy statement said. "American journalists in Afghanistan are urged to take immediate steps to increase their security posture in light of these threats." In October, the embassy urged Americans in Saudi Arabia to be vigilant during the holy Islamic fasting month of Ramadan (search), which ends later this month. On Monday, Saudi police uncovered a cell believed linked to the Al Qaeda network in the holy city of Mecca. Police believe the cell had planned to carry out attacks during Ramadan. The alert came a day after two suspected militants, believed to be members of the Mecca cell, blew themselves up in the holy city to avoid arrest. A third suspect was killed in a shootout with security forces in Riyadh. The Saudi government launched a nationwide security crackdown following the May 12 attacks on Western compounds in Riyadh. About 600 suspects believed linked to Al Qaeda have been arrested since the May attacks, which killed 35 people, including the nine attackers. Fox News' Mike Emanuel, Teri Schultz and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
~~~~FYI