U.S. issues flurry of terror warnings

U.S. issues flurry of terror warnings

Agence France-Presse, Washington

The United States has in the past week issued a series of dire terrorism warnings for least eight countries, alerting U.S. citizens to the potential for attacks directed at American citizens and interests there, according to the State Department.

Since Oct. 21, the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Israel and Jordan have released terrorism advisories to Americans in those nations and the State Department in Washington has warned if possible attacks in Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

While the warnings do not contain specific details about alleged plots or the timing of possible attacks, the spate of alerts coincides with the run-up to next week's U.S. presidential election, the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan, the escalating insurgency in Iraq and continuing Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The most recent advisory, issued on Thursday by the U.S. embassy in Kabul, said "security threats remain a serious concern" and referred to a weekend suicide bombing in the capital that killed a 24-year-American woman who was the fourth U.S. citizen to have been killed in city in two months.

Such incidents are "stark reminders of the inherent risk inside Kabul City and throughout Afghanistan," the embassy said in the notice. "The potential remains for additional attacks against U.S. citizens and interests in Afghanistan."

It said U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan had seen a decrease in the level of security alertness by Afghan and international security forces since presidential elections earlier this month and noted that "terrorists have demonstrated their ability to take advantage of such opportunity."

On Wednesday, the U.S. embassy in Jakarta advised Americans in Indonesia that it continued "to receive reports that terrorist organizations could attempt to carry out attacks against identifiably American or other Western facilities or businesses in Indonesia."

In particular, the embassy said, U.S. citizens should avoid all bars and nightclubs for the remainder of Ramadhan, which ends in mid-November, because they "could be attacked by protesters." A bar in Jakarta that was allegedly serving alcohol was attacked on Oct. 23, it said.

Also on Wednesday, the State Department issued an advisory for Russia, warning of the persistent threat of terrorism there after the twin bombings of Russian aircraft and two attacks in Moscow in August as well as the Sept. 1 deadly hostage-taking at a school in North Ossetia.

Russian authorities have blamed the attacks on Chechen separatists and the warning noted that "Chechen separatist elements have issued a new statement threatening attacks against Russian and U.S. interests."

Shortly after issuing the notice for Russia, the State Department renewed its existing travel warning for Saudi Arabia, reminding Americans "of the potential for further terrorist actions against U.S. citizens abroad, including in the Persian Gulf region."