UK and US shutdown their embassies in yemen

The United States and Britain have closed their embassies in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, citing security concerns after threats from an al-Qaeda group.

The US embassy posted a message on its website on Sunday saying it was closed “in response to ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen”.

A British foreign office spokeswoman said later that it too had shut its embassy because of “security concerns”.

Neither mission said when the embassies might reopen.

The Spanish embassy restricted access to its premises on Sunday, but remained open. The El Mundo newspaper said the embassy would be closed to the public on Monday.

John Brennan, the assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism to Barack Obama, the US president, meanwhile told CNN’s “State of the Union” programme that “there are indications that al-Qaeda is planning an attack against a target in Sanaa”.

Hakim al-Masmari, the editor-in-chief of the Yemen Post newspaper, told Al Jazeera that the closure can only mean “that they believe al-Qaeda threat is very serious”.

“If you look at the recent video tapes from al-Qaeda, they clearly mention they have no enemy in Yemen except the US interests in Yemen. They warned the Yemeni soldiers against helping the Americans in any such way,” al-Masmari said.

“We really expect attacks on the US interests in the next month by al-Qaeda.”