SANA, Yemen — The United States and Britain shut their embassies in the Yemen capital on Sunday, with the Americans citing unspecified but "ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the regional branch responsible for the failed Christmas Day effort to blow up a U.S. airliner headed to Detroit.
The closures came a day after a quiet visit to Yemen's president by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American regional commander, who delivered a message from President Obama of support for Yemen's unity and counter-terrorism efforts.
In his weekly address on Saturday, Mr. Obama blamed the Al Qaeda branch for the bombing attempt and said that those responsible "will be held to account."
Mr. Obama said he had made it "a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike Al Qaeda terrorists."
John Brennan, Mr. Obama's deputy national security adviser, asked on ABC's "This Week" television program on Sunday whether there was a "live and active threat," said, "There is. Al Qaeda has several hundred members, in fact, in Yemen, and they've grown in strength."
"I spoke with our ambassador in Sana, Steve Seche, early this morning and last night, looked at the intelligence that is available as far as the plans for al Qaeda to carry out attacks in Sana, possibly against our embassy, possibly against U.S. personnel," Mr. Brennan said. "We decided it was the prudent thing to do to shut the embassy."
Appearing later on "Fox News Sunday," Mr. Brennan said, "Until the Yemeni government gets on top of the situation with Al Qaeda, there is a risk of attacks. We know that there are a number of Al Qaeda operatives who are determined to carry out such attacks."
The streets outside of the American Embassy looked normal on Sunday, a working day here, with no visible addition to the normal boundary security provided by the Yemeni military and police. Nor were the streets closed off near the embassy building, which is surrounded by a large wall and is set back some distance to prevent bomb damage.
Both American and British officials here said that a decision to reopen the embassies on Monday had yet to be made.
In September 2008, Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. Embassy with a car bomb, and 19 people were killed — including an 18-year-old American woman, Yemeni security forces and six militants. It was after that attack that the United States began to step up its military and security aid to Yemen, with some $67 million spent in fiscal 2009, a figure that General Petraeus said would more than double in 2010, to around $150 million, if Congress approved.
A statement on the U.S. Embassy Web site said that "The U.S. Embassy in Sana is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen."
An embassy official refused to comment further on the specific threat. On Thursday, the embassy sent a notice to American citizens in Yemen urging them to be vigilant and practice security awareness.
Last January, gunmen in a car exchanged fire with police at a checkpoint near the embassy, hours after the embassy received threats of a possible attack by Al Qaeda, according to The Associated Press. No one was injured. And in July, security was upgraded in Sana after intelligence reports warned of attacks planned against the embassy.
In December, the Yemen government said that it had attacked Al Qaeda meetings in which the group had been planning an attack on the British Embassy here.
On Saturday, Yemeni officials said they had sent several hundred more troops to fight Al Qaeda militants in the provinces of Abyan, Al Bayda and Shabwah.
Britain announced on Sunday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mr. Obama had agreed to back a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat. There is already significant counterterrorist training for the police and it was not immediately clear what Mr. Brown had in mind.
Britain is also to host a high-level international conference on Jan. 28, in parallel with a long-scheduled conference on Afghanistan, to discuss international strategy and aid to counter radicalization in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world.
The closures came a day after a quiet visit to Yemen's president by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American regional commander, who delivered a message from President Obama of support for Yemen's unity and counter-terrorism efforts.
In his weekly address on Saturday, Mr. Obama blamed the Al Qaeda branch for the bombing attempt and said that those responsible "will be held to account."
Mr. Obama said he had made it "a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike Al Qaeda terrorists."
John Brennan, Mr. Obama's deputy national security adviser, asked on ABC's "This Week" television program on Sunday whether there was a "live and active threat," said, "There is. Al Qaeda has several hundred members, in fact, in Yemen, and they've grown in strength."
"I spoke with our ambassador in Sana, Steve Seche, early this morning and last night, looked at the intelligence that is available as far as the plans for al Qaeda to carry out attacks in Sana, possibly against our embassy, possibly against U.S. personnel," Mr. Brennan said. "We decided it was the prudent thing to do to shut the embassy."
Appearing later on "Fox News Sunday," Mr. Brennan said, "Until the Yemeni government gets on top of the situation with Al Qaeda, there is a risk of attacks. We know that there are a number of Al Qaeda operatives who are determined to carry out such attacks."
The streets outside of the American Embassy looked normal on Sunday, a working day here, with no visible addition to the normal boundary security provided by the Yemeni military and police. Nor were the streets closed off near the embassy building, which is surrounded by a large wall and is set back some distance to prevent bomb damage.
Both American and British officials here said that a decision to reopen the embassies on Monday had yet to be made.
In September 2008, Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. Embassy with a car bomb, and 19 people were killed — including an 18-year-old American woman, Yemeni security forces and six militants. It was after that attack that the United States began to step up its military and security aid to Yemen, with some $67 million spent in fiscal 2009, a figure that General Petraeus said would more than double in 2010, to around $150 million, if Congress approved.
A statement on the U.S. Embassy Web site said that "The U.S. Embassy in Sana is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen."
An embassy official refused to comment further on the specific threat. On Thursday, the embassy sent a notice to American citizens in Yemen urging them to be vigilant and practice security awareness.
Last January, gunmen in a car exchanged fire with police at a checkpoint near the embassy, hours after the embassy received threats of a possible attack by Al Qaeda, according to The Associated Press. No one was injured. And in July, security was upgraded in Sana after intelligence reports warned of attacks planned against the embassy.
In December, the Yemen government said that it had attacked Al Qaeda meetings in which the group had been planning an attack on the British Embassy here.
On Saturday, Yemeni officials said they had sent several hundred more troops to fight Al Qaeda militants in the provinces of Abyan, Al Bayda and Shabwah.
Britain announced on Sunday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mr. Obama had agreed to back a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat. There is already significant counterterrorist training for the police and it was not immediately clear what Mr. Brown had in mind.
Britain is also to host a high-level international conference on Jan. 28, in parallel with a long-scheduled conference on Afghanistan, to discuss international strategy and aid to counter radicalization in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world.
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