U.S. closes Manila embassy after threat

U.S. closes Manila embassy after threat

PHILIPPINES: The U.S. Embassy in Manila temporarily shut its doors on Tuesday after a security threat, with Philippine police warning of potential suicide bombings by Jamaah Islamiyah, a regional network of militants linked to al-Qaeda.

The embassy did not specify the "plausible threat information" in a statement on its Website -- http://manila.usembassy.gov.

Television channel ANC quoted a guard at the embassy as saying a mobile phone text message was received on Monday night from someone named "Evita" threatening to blow up the embassy.

The Philippine government, fighting homegrown Muslim and communist insurgencies as well as Jamaah Islamiyah, is a staunch security ally to Washington.

But anti-American sentiment in the Philippines, a former U.S. colony, has risen in recent weeks with six visiting U.S. soldiers being investigated over allegations they raped a Philippines woman on Nov. 1 after joint military exercises.

"An attack on any U.S. embassy in the world is every Islamic militant's dream," said a Philippine intelligence official, adding that two leading foreign militants hiding on the southern island of Mindanao wanted Indonesians to carry out attacks.

Citing information shared by Jakarta, the police official said Dulmatin and Umar Patek had asked a contact in central Java, Abdullah Sunata, to send Indonesian recruits to Mindanao to launch suicide bombings in the Philippines. --Reuters