US Issues Worldwide Travel Alert Following Al Qaeda Threat
As was reported earlier by The Inquisitr, the US was planning on closing Embassies around the world. Now the State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert after an unspecified Al Qaeda threat.
The earlier plans were to close embassies and consulates in Muslim countries on Sunday. The US government is expanding that action by issuing a statement warning travelers around the world.
This comes after the government received unspecified threats and decided on the embassy closures.
On September 11, 2012 the US Consulate in Benghazi was attacked by terrorist resulting in the death of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others.
The Obama administration has been accused of not doing enough to protect those at the embassy and initially blamed the incident on a video which inflamed the Arab world.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the embassy closures were due to an abundance of caution and stated that the facilities would remain shut down for more than a day.
The US worldwide travel alert comes after Al Qaeda vowed to free all those imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay Cuba military facility which holds high value targets connected to the September 11, 2001 attack on the US.
Other US officials said the threat was in the Muslim world, where Sunday is a workday. American diplomatic missions in Europe, Latin America, and many other places are closed Sundays following weekend practices in the homeland.
Here is the State Department's worldwide travel alert. pic.twitter.com/sjQR4i51nQ
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) August 2, 2013
This also follows a State Department alert issued last year informing American diplomatic facilities across the Muslim world about potential violence connected to the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The unspecified threat comes after terrorist groups in Libya, Iraq, and Pakistan, have recently freed hundreds of imprisoned fighters.
And a newly uncovered report allegedly made by Al Qaeda fighters in Mali in 2011, suggests the group is planning to take hostages in an effort to halt the U.S. drone strikes that have destroyed its leadership.
Will you be taking into account the worldwide travel alert in the next few days?
