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| Arabia |
| U.S. urges its citizens in Bahrain to leave |
| 2004-07-02 |
| And Dubai will become a target soon after Bahrain. Dubai was second on the list of destinations for people leaving the Kingdom of Venom. The United States is urging its citizens in Bahrain to consider leaving after receiving âcredibleâ information about planned attacks on U.S. and Western targets in the country, home to the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet. âThe Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer travel to Bahrain. American citizens currently in Bahrain are urged to consider departing,â the U.S. embassy said in an advisory issued Thursday. âThe Department has received information that extremists are planning attacks against U.S. and other Western interests in the kingdom of Bahrain. Credible information indicates that extremists remain at large and are planning attacks in Bahrain.â As part of the advisory, the Navy has ordered the families of some 80 servicemembers to evacuate Bahrain. The exact number of dependents is not immediately available. The Navy is making arrangements to fly the families out of Bahrain as early as possible. It is less than two weeks since Bahrain arrested six men on suspicion of supporting al-Qaida and planning attacks in the Gulf state, but then freed them because of lack of evidence. A U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News that the six were tied to the "credible" threat. Other U.S. officials told NBC that the six men are part of a "new group" tied to al-Qaida. The six had been arrested on the basis of U.S. intelligence, said one official. "There was plenty of reason to pick them up and plenty of reason to hold them," the official added. The official did acknowledge the six were not found with explosives, but also said that Bahraini authorities "didnât look very hard" either. The embassy gave no details about the threat in Bahrain, but mentioned the suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, which hit residential compounds. |
| Posted by:Anonymous4617 |