SANAA (Reuters) – The United States told its citizens in Yemen on Tuesday to leave the country immediately due to the threat of “terrorist attacks”, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
The State Department also said it had ordered non-essential U.S. government staff in Yemen to leave the country.
The new measures followed a heightened security warning from Washington on Friday that prompted the closure of several Western embassies in Yemen and several U.S. missions across the Middle East and Africa.
It also came after at least four suspected al Qaeda members were killed in what local tribal leaders said was a U.S. drone strike in central Yemen early on Tuesday.
“The Department urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart immediately,” the statement posted on its website said.
“On August 6, 2013, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Yemen due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks,” it added.
(Writing by Sami Aboudi- editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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