- WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United
States said Tuesday it was closing its embassy
- in Yemen to the public indefinitely amid fears it may
become a target
- for a terrorist attack in retaliation for the killing
of a top al-Qaeda
- operative.
-
- "The U.S. embassy in Sanaa will be closed to the
public on November 6
- to review its security posture," said Lynn Cassell,
a State Department
- spokeswoman.
-
- "The embassy will re-open at the appropriate time,"
she said, declining
- to say when that might be.
-
- The decision to close the embassy to the public came
after senior U.S.
- officials said earlier Tuesday that security at the facility
was being
- ramped up.
-
- The officials would not directly confirm U.S. media reports
that the
- Central Intelligence Agency had killed the man, along
with five other
- al-Qaeda suspects, but pointedly linked the stepped-up
security at the
- embassy to the deaths.
-
- "There will probably be some very angry people today
who may try to
- take revenge, so we're taking extra precautions,"
a senior State
- Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
-
- A second senior official said the circumstances surrounding
the men's
- deaths would have made the embassy and other U.S. interests
in Yemen a
- target regardless of the reports of CIA involvement.
-
- "I think it's safe to say that people would be coming
after us even if
- the CIA had nothing to do with this," the official
said.
-
- Neither official would specify what new measures were
being taken at
- the embassy in Sanaa -- which has been operating under
enhanced
- security for some time -- but said some of the precautions
would be
- visible to passers-by.
-
- "If someone goes down they'll find it to be very
tight, much tighter
- than before," the first official said.
-
- But both officials adamantly denied that a revised travel
warning for
- the Middle East, Persian Gulf and North Africa issued
on Monday by the
- State Department was connected with the killings in Yemen.
-
- That warning, which superseded an existing May 21 alert
for the region
- that had not been due to expire until November 20, was
released just
- hours after the six men were killed in Yemen when the
vehicle in which
- they were traveling was destroyed by a powerful explosion.
-
- The top al-Qaeda operative killed in the blast has been
identified by
- Yemeni authorities as Ali Qaeda Sunian al-Harithi, also
known as Abu
- Ali, who is believed to be responsible for the 2000 bombing
of the U.S.
- destroyer Cole.
-
- Yemeni authorities did not say what caused the explosion
but CNN and
- other U.S. television networks reported that the vehicle
was hit by a
- Hellfire missile fired from a CIA drone aircraft as it
traveled in
- Yemen's northern province of Marib, about 160 kilometers
(100 miles)
- east of Sanaa.
-
- The CIA has refused to comment on the reports.
-
- The five other men killed were described as close associates
of
- al-Harithi, who one U.S. defense official said was "one
of the
- kingpins" in the October 12, 2000 attack on the
USS Cole as it refueled
- in the Yemeni port of Aden.
-
- Seventeen U.S. sailors died when the Cole was rammed
by an
- explosives-laden boat that blew a hole in its hull.
-
- Harithi is also reported to have served as one of al-Qaeda
leader Osama
- bin Laden's senior bodyguards and was one of bin Laden's
key
- lieutenants in Yemen.
-
- Bin Laden has taken credit for masterminding September
11, 2001,
- attacks on the United States, which killed more than
3,000.
-
- Yemen is bin Laden's ancestral home and U.S. officials
have voiced
- concern the Arabian peninsula country has become a safe
haven for
- fighters on the run belonging to his al-Qaeda terror
network.
-
- U.S. military personnel have been deployed in Yemen to
help combat
- militants, although Yemeni authorities insist they are
only involved in
- training and intelligence, and not in military operations.
-
- However, U.S. officials have said that such cooperation
has improved in
- the wake of the October 7 bombing of a French supertanker
off the coast
- of Yemen that appeared to be modeled on the Cole attack.
-
- The United States has assembled an 800-member task force
in neighboring
- Djibouti and aboard ships in the region to pursue suspected
al-Qaeda
- militants in the Horn of Africa region.
|
