Yemen boosts security at embassies, airport

YEMEN: France became the latest foreign mission to close in Yemen on Monday as security around embassies and the airport was boosted, officials said, amid fears of strikes by an Al-Qaeda branch linked to a botched attack on a US airliner.

Security forces, meanwhile, shot dead two suspected Al-Qaeda members in an operation north of the capital, a tribal source said. The stricter security came as US authorities announced intensifying airport checks on passengers travelling from or via 14 “terror linked” countries, including Yemen.

The US and British embassies in Sanaa had been shut since Sunday for what they said were security reasons, while France on Monday announced it too was closing its mission.

“On January 3, our ambassador decided to no longer authorise public access to the premises of our diplomatic mission,” foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters in Paris. He said French citizens in Yemen had been warned to remain vigilant and to limit their movements. The Japanese foreign ministry said consular services had been suspended at its embassy in Yemen but the mission was conducting other business as usual.

The German foreign ministry confirmed security had been tightened at its mission but that the embassy remained open.

Yemeni officials, asking not to be named, told AFP on Monday that security had been tightened outside all embassies in the capital. US President Barack Obama has accused the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) of arming and training a Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day. Sanaa, AFP