The State Department has decided to close 19 different diplomatic facilities in predominantly Muslim countries for the rest of the week, amid warnings of possible Al-Qaeda terrorist plots against American embassies and consulates in that region.
Originally, U.S. facilities were to be closed on Sunday, but the State Department extended that for some, while deciding to open others on Monday.
Here is the statement issued on Sunday by the State Department:
Given that a number of our embassies and consulates were going to be closed in accordance with local custom and practice for the bulk of the week for the Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, and out of an abundance of caution, we've decided to extend the closure of several embassies and consulates including a small number of additional posts.
This is not an indication of a new threat stream, merely an indication of our commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect our employees including local employees and visitors to our facilities.
Posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali, and Port Louis are instructed to close for normal operations Monday, August 5 through Saturday, August 10.
The following posts that are normally open on Sunday, but were closed on Sunday, August 4, are authorized to reopen for normal operations on August 5: Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah, and Erbil.
The bottom line is that embassies and consulates in 19 nations will be closed the rest of the week in the following countries: UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Libya, Madagascar, Burundi, Djibouti, Sudan, Rwanda and Mauritius.
U.S. diplomatic posts are open for business in Bangladesh, Algeria, Mauritania, Afghanistan and Iraq.
