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| Arabia |
| Yemen boosts security at embassies, airport |
| 2010-01-05 |
| 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. French embassy: "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. AQAP claimed responsibility for the failed attack and called for strikes on embassies in Yemen. A Yemeni security official told AFP that police measures "were intensified" on the road to the airport "following the closure of the US embassy". Yemeni authorities have in recent weeks intensified operations against Al Qaeda in the impoverished Arabian peninsula state, killing more than 60 militants in two raids on December 17 and 24. Killings: A tribal source requesting anonymity said security forces hunting suspected Al Qaeda member Muhammad al-Hanq clashed on Monday with his bodyguards near Arhab, 40 kilometres north of Sanaa. Two of Hanq's company, his son and his nephew, were killed and three others were wounded in the firefight, while he managed to escape, the source added. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 One thing never mentioned is that incoming flights have to have clearance to enter US airspace. Bilaterals have been created that allow them routinely, but they can be terminated fairly easily. Or get Bambi to issue an EO that allows Interpol to search all incoming pax. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2010-01-05 23:41 |
| #1 How about we cancel all inbound and outbound flights for a couple of weeks? That'll give them a chance to contemplate the prospect of being stuck taking a camel for the rest of their lives. |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-01-05 11:25 |