WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa as a precaution yesterday after an al Qaeda threat that U.S. lawmakers said was the most serious in years.
The State Department said 19 U.S. embassies and consulates would be closed through Saturday “out of an abundance of caution” and that a number of them would have been closed anyway for most of the week due to the Eid celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The United States initially closed 21 U.S. diplomatic posts for the day yesterday. Some of those will reopen today, including Kabul, Baghdad and Algiers.