24 September 2009
South African US embassy closed amid fears of Al-Qaeda
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
The US embassy and all its government facilities in South Africa have been closed this week following a security scare from an Al-Qaeda faction on Tuesday.
The Al-Qaeda splinter group had telephoned to the US embassy in Pretoria on Monday warning of intended attacks of US facilities in the country in response to the killing of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in Somalia- a most sorted after Al-Qaeda member- by the US commandos earlier on last week.
US embassy spokesperson Sharon Hudson-Dean refused to give a word on the allegations as the US facilities are expected to resume with operations on Friday.
The August 1998 suicide bombing of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya by Al-Qaeda left 224 dead and thousands injured. [ER].