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."