Saturday, August 17, 2013

British embassy in Yemen to reopen

The UK embassy in Yemeni capital Sanaa will open "as normal" on Sunday after staff were withdrawn earlier this month due to "increased security concerns".
Announcing the news on Twitter, British ambassador Jane Marriott apologised for a "brief hiatus".
All UK staff based in Sanaa were sent home after messages between the head of al-Qaeda and the group's head in Yemen about a major attack were intercepted.
US embassies across the Middle East and North Africa were also closed.
A terror alert was sparked after secret plans discussed by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi were picked up by US intelligence officials.
Unprecedented security measures were taken in Sanaa, with hundreds of armoured vehicles deployed.
Speaking at the time, the BBC's Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, said a security source had confirmed that Yemeni intelligence services had discovered that dozens of al-Qaeda members had arrived in the city in the preceding days in preparation for a major attack.
The source suggested it was to include explosions and suicide attacks aimed at Western diplomatic missions and Yemeni military headquarters.
Yemen is the base of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has recently suffered a series of setbacks after the military launched an offensive in June with the help of US forces.

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