Yemen on high alert for al-Qaeda attack as US and Britain evacuate embassy staff

Yemeni security forces have been put on high alert amid warnings of an imminent attack by al-Qaeda in Sana’a, as the US and Britain withdrew embassy staff and urged their citizens to leave the country.

BBC Arabic quoted a Yemeni security source as saying “extraordinary and unprecedented” security measures had been taken, with armoured vehicles deployed at the presidential palace and other sensitive government and foreign installations in Yemen’s capital.

Dozens of al-Qaeda operatives were said to have streamed into Sana’a in the last few days, apparently to take part in a terrorist attack, the BBC said. The Yemeni claim could not be independently confirmed.

Hours earlier, Yemeni tribal sources and unnamed officials reported two US drone strikes that killed four al-Qaeda operatives in Marib province northeast of Sana’a, including a senior commander who was named by al-Jazeera as Salah al-Jumati.

Last month, the second in command of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Said al-Shehri, was also killed in a US drone strike.

Intercepted messages
The New York Times reported that US intelligence services had intercepted communications between Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's overall leader, and the Yemeni head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Nasser al-Wuhayshi.

The paper quoted counter-terrorism officials as saying that Mr Zawahri had recently elevated Mr Wuhayshi to be the new “general manager” of the terrorist network, making him the second most important man in the organisation.

In London the foreign office said UK embassy staff had been temporarily withdrawn. It also advised against all travel to the country.

A US defence department spokesman said the American airforce had transported state department personnel out of Sanaa early yesterday. "The US department of defence continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the US state department and monitor the security situation," said George Little.

The Yemeni government had already announced a plan to tighten security measures at foreign embassies – particularly those of western countries – sea and airports and other facilities of strategic importance, including oil pipelines and power grids. Sana’a is hunting for 25 named AQAP operatives it suspects of planning attacks.

A global travel alert issued yesterday said: “The US department of state warns US citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.”

Foiled attacks
AQAP has also been blamed for the foiled Christmas Day 2009 effort to bomb an airliner over Detroit and for explosives-laden parcels that were intercepted the following year aboard cargo flights.

The US state department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said: "We are concerned about a threat stream indicating the potential for terrorist attacks against US persons or facilities overseas, especially emanating from the Arabian peninsula. As such, the department is taking appropriate steps to protect our employees, including local employees and visitors to our facilities."

British and German embassies in Yemen were also closed and Norway's foreign ministry restricted public access to 15 of its embassies in the Middle East and Africa, including its post in Saudi Arabia.
– (Guardian service)