British Embassy to close doors in Riyadh
The British Embassy in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital will close its operations on Wednesday following intelligence reports of an ‘imminent’ terrorist threat, the Foreign Office has said.
The British consulate in Jeddah, west Saudi Arabia, and trade office in al-Khobar, east Saudi Arabia, will also close.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘We have received credible information that further terrorist attacks against unspecified targets in Saudi Arabia are being planned and may take place imminently.’
It said it expected the offices would reopen May 24.
Germany has followed suit and will close the consular section of its embassy until the end of the week, its Foreign Ministry said.
The United States has already announced the closure of its Saudi Arabian embassy and two consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran, citing ‘credible information’ that further terrorist attacks were planned against targets in Saudi Arabia.
Embassies worldwide are on heightened terror alert following the spate of suicide bombings witnessed in recent weeks.
The US Embassy has raised the security warning from yellow to orange, one grade below red, which suggests a terrorist attack is imminent.
Suicide attacks, seemingly in concert, on three residential compounds outside Riyadh on May 12 claimed the lives of 34 people, including nine bombers. Similar devastation was inflicted upon Morocco’s biggest city Casablanca last week. More than 50 people died and hundreds wounding in the suicide bombings.
Intelligence reports coming out of Washington suggest terrorist network al Qaeda was responsible for the bombings.
And yesterday, Saudi officials arrested three al-Qaeda suspects in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.
Australia, a key ally in the US-led war against Iraq,, has it would not be closing its embassy at present, although ‘everybody is being very cautious.’
‘We have quite a substantial security presence at the Australian embassy in Riyadh and the ambassador thinks that that security presence is sufficient,’ said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
