Americas...:US Extends Embassy Closings

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The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa as a precaution on Sunday after an al-Qaeda threat loomed.

The US State Department said 19 US embassies and consulates would be closed through Saturday and that a number of them would have been closed anyway for most of the week due to the Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The United States initially closed 21 US diplomatic posts for the day on Sunday. Some of those will reopen on Monday, including Kabul, Baghdad and Algiers.

Four new diplomatic posts - in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius - were added to the closure list for the week.

The United States issued a worldwide travel alert on Friday due to an al-Qaeda threat to attack in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.

"There is an awful lot of chatter out there," U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said.

"This is the most serious threat that I've seen in the last several years," Chambliss added.

US military forces in the Middle East region have been on a higher state of alert for the past several days because of the threat, a US official told Reuters.

The travel alert was based on the same intelligence that pushed it to close 21 US embassies and consulates on August 4, Reuters cited a source as saying.

"The Department of State alerts US citizens to the continued potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula," The Department of State's statement saidon Friday.

"Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August," it added.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team