Photograph by Greg Messier.
The state department has said that the US will keep a number of embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa closed until Saturday due to a continued terror threat from al-Qaeda.
This action comes in the wake of a global travel alert issued by the US last week, and the UK alongside other EUropean countries closing their embassies in Yemen until the Festival of Eid brings the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on Thursday.
Information from the intelligence community has pointed to a possible viable large-scale terror attack on a US embassy in the Middle East or North Africa to coincide with the end of the end of Ramadan, although further information has been sparse.
The US security community has stepped up precautions after the death of four embassy staff in an attack on the US consulate in Beghazi, Libya last year. The intelligence services are also facing criticism over the recent revelations about widespread domestic spying and resulatant privacy concerns.
The US diplomatic posts remaining closed until Saturday are Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Dhahran, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Riyadh, Sanaa and Tripoli. The US missions in Antananarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis have also now been closed.
