The U.S. State Department has extended the closure orders for 19 embassies and consulates across the Middle East and Africa for a week - amid fears of a 'strategically significant' terrorist attack against Western interests.
Officials are offering few details about the threat from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the arm of the terrorist organization that is based in Yemen, but at least one report indicates it could involve a terrorist attack mounted by people with explosives surgically-implanted inside them - bombs capable of passing undetected through airport security.
On Sunday, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said 'the chatter' intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies was 'very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.'
'The one thing that we can talk about is the fact that there's been an awful lot of chatter out there,' Chambliss said. 'We didn't take heed on 9/11 in a way that we should, but here I think it's very important that we do take the right kind of planning.'
Threat: Senator Saxby Chambliss compares the chatter that led to a global terror warning to chatter intercepted before September 11
State Department officials said Thursday that they were taking action out of an 'abundance of caution' from the Arabian Peninsula
The U.S. State Department, based at the White House, Washington (pictured), has instructed its embassies and consulates in the Muslim word that would normally be open on Sunday to close this weekend amid reports of an unspecified threat
ABC News reports that a senior American security source says officials are worried about explosive devices that can pass undetected through airport screening devices like metal detectors and body scanners.
'We are concerned about surgically implanted devices,' the source says.
'These are guys who have developed the techniques to defeat our detection methods.'
The State Department said 19 U.S. embassies and consulates would be closed through Saturday 'out of an abundance of caution' and that a number of them would have been closed anyway for most of the week due to the Eid celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The diplomatic posts include those in Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday that the information intercepted from 'high-level people in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula' included threats of a 'major attack.'
'We’re not certain exactly where something might happen but it’s very specific as to when and it’s also very specific as to the fact that it is going to happen, so we have to be on alert everywhere,' Rep. Peter King, chairman of the subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, told WINS-AM. He said the threat is the 'most specific' he's seen since the 9/11 attacks.
'There's very little doubt that something serious is being planned,' King told CNN. 'It's a potential series of attacks. It could be anywhere.'
The U.S. issued a global travel alert for American travelers on Friday after intercepting electronic communication among top al Qaeda operatives in Yemen regarding an attack in its final planning stages. The al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has been linked to plots to blow up American-bound cargo and commercial flights, according to the New York Times.
If traveling outside the U.S., King said: 'I would let the American embassy know where you are. Basically check in and where you are and how long you plan to stay there and what your itinerary is.'
State Department officials said Thursday that they were taking action out of an 'abundance of caution' after receiving information the terror group was in the final stages of planning for an unspecified attack.
The terror group and its affiliates 'may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,' the State Department said.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf cited information indicating a threat to U.S. facilities overseas and said some diplomatic facilities may stay closed for more than a day.
Barriers block access to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, on August 3
Boats are seen in front of the U.S. consulate building in Gulf emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on August 3
Closed: Bangladeshi police stop a motorist in front of the U.S. embassy building that remained closed due to security threat
A source told CNN the preparations appeared to have increased in recent days with the approaching end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A U.S. official noted it was unclear whether the plot would be directed at a target inside Yemen or elsewhere.
Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The British embassy in Yemen is to be closed on Sunday and Monday as 'a precautionary measure', the Foreign Office confirmed today.
On the heels of the American foreign travel alert, Interpol has 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 Lyon, France-based international police agency said Saturday that the alert follows 'the escape of hundreds of terrorists and other criminals' from prisons in the past month. The alert calls on Interpol’s 190 member countries to help determine whether these events are coordinated or linked, the organization said.
Bangladeshi policemen stand guard outside the US embassy in Dhaka on Sunday
Police in Bangladesh check an auto-rickshaw passenger near the US embassy in Dhaka on Sunday
The State Department issued a major warning last year informing American diplomatic facilities across the Muslim world about potential violence connected to the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Dozens of American installations were besieged by protest over an anti-Islam video made by an American resident.
In Benghazi, Libya, the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed when militants assaulted a diplomatic post. The administration no longer says that attack was related to the demonstrations.
The United States is locking down its embassies and consulates throughout the Muslim world on Sunday after receiving an unspecified threat, officials said.
Quoted by ABC News, one official said the closures were a response to a 'specific threat against a U.S. embassy or consulate,' described as a 'concerted effort' to target an embassy or consulate in a Muslim country.
The U.S. Embassy in Amman (pictured), the capital of Jordan, is among those which will close from Sunday as a 'precaution' following a reported terrorist threat
In Kabul, Afghanistan, where thousands of U.S. troops remain stationed, the U.S. Embassy (pictured) will also be closed this Sunday
The official also said that 'there could be other targets, not just embassies'.
According to the news service, 28 U.S. installations will close Sunday, including offices in Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The threat comes close to a year after four American consulate workers in Libya were killed in a night time arson attack.
The State Department issued a major warning last year informing American diplomatic facilities across the Muslim world about potential violence connected to the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
President Barack Obama, pictured at the White House in January, paid his respects earlier this month to victims in Tanzania of the 1998 orchestrated terrorist attacks against several US embassies across the African continent
Dozens of American installations were besieged by protest over an anti-Islam video made by an American resident.
In Benghazi, Libya, the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed when militants assaulted a diplomatic post.
An armed mob attacked and set fire to the consulate building in their protest against the amateur film - deemed offensive to Islam's prophet, Muhammad - after similar protests in Egypt's capital.
The administration no longer says that attack was related to the demonstrations.
The mass closure of U.S. embassies and consulates across the MENA region also comes almost 15 years ago to the day that hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous terrorist attacks, conducted by al Qaeda, on U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam.
In Dar es Salaam, 10 Tanzanians were killed and more than 85 Americans and Tanzanians were injured. The blast at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi killed at least 212 people and wounded an estimated 4,000.
In his recent visit to Africa, U.S. President Barack Obama paid his respects to those who lost their lives in the attacks.
In Britain, the Foreign Office said it was not shutting any embassies but has urged its staff in the Middle East and in Arab states to be vigilant.
'US Embassies in the region have been instructed to close on Sunday August 4. The British Embassies remain open, but staff have been advised to exercise extra vigilance as we approach Eid,' a spokesman said.
‘We are aware of reports and are in close contact with the US authorities. We will consider every Embassy on case by case basis; clearly the safety of our staff overseas is our highest priority.
'Our travel advice remains under constant review. We are not going to comment on intelligence matters.'
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