美撤回部分駐也門外交官 敦促美國公民撤離

The Air Force flew some U.S. diplomatic personnel out of Yemen on Tuesday and Washington told nationals to leave the country immediately after warnings of potential attacks that pushed the United States to shut missions across the Middle East.

Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is the base for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and militants have launched attacks from there against the West.

U.S. sources have told Reuters that intercepted communication between bin Laden's successor as al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and the Yemen-based wing was one part of the intelligence behind their alert last week.

Britain, which has already advised for more than two years that its citizens in Yemen should "leave now", announced it was temporarily evacuating all its embassy staff.

Yemen is one of a handful of countries where Washington acknowledges targeting militants with strikes by drone aircraft.

In the latest strike on Tuesday, a U.S. drone fired five missiles at a car travelling in the central Maarib province killing all four of its occupants, local tribal leaders said. Yemen's state news agency Saba said four al Qaeda militants were killed in the attack.

The U.S. State Department's announcement urging Americans to leave the country follows a worldwide travel alert on Friday which prompted Washington to shut diplomatic missions across the Middle East and Africa. Some of its European allies have also closed their embassies in Yemen.

"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.

Previous U.S travel warnings to Yemen had also advised citizens not travel to the country, but the language of the latest announcement appeared to reflect a more imminent threat.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. relations with Yemen remained strong despite the measures taken.

"So this was, again, just to reiterate, a response to an immediate specific threat, but we continue to work with them on a number of issues," Psaki told journalists at a news briefing in Washington.

Britain also said on Tuesday it had withdrawn all staff from its embassy in the capital Sanaa, adding there was "a very high threat of kidnap from armed tribes, criminals and terrorists".

The Netherlands advised its citizens to leave Yemen as a matter of urgency, local news agency ANP reported.

France said it had not changed its previous advisory asking citizens to "be very cautious and to move around as little as possible," Helene Conway-Mouret, junior Minister for French nationals abroad, told BFM TV.

EVACUATION

Restoring stability to Yemen - a country close to major shipping lanes and torn by regional and sectarian separatism and tribal violence as well as the al Qaeda insurgency - has been a priority for the United States.

In a statement issued in Washington, Pentagon spokesman George Little said the U.S. Air Force "transported personnel out of Sanaa, Yemen, as part of a reduction in emergency personnel" in response to a request by the State Department.

He did not specify which types of personnel were involved or where they were taken.

"The U.S. Department of Defense continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the U.S. State Department and monitor the security situation," the statement said.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr al-Qirbi criticised the measures but said they would not affect relations with the United States.

"Unfortunately, these measures, although they are taken to protect their citizens, in reality they serve the goals that the terrorist elements are seeking to achieve," Qirbi told Reuters.

"Yemen had taken these threats seriously and had taken all the necessary measures to protect all the foreign missions in the country," he added.

The country's Supreme Security Committee issued a statement saying it had information al Qaeda was plotting attacks during Eid al-Fitr, this week's Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

The committee also published a list of 25 senior al Qaeda militants it said were being sought by security forces and offered a bounty of 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) for information leading to their capture.

"Information has become available that terrorist elements of the al Qaeda network were planning to carry out terrorist acts targeting public installations and facilities, especially in a number of Yemeni provinces, in the latter days of the holy month of Ramadan and during the Eid al-Fitr holiday," it said.據英國路透社8月6日報道，美國空軍8月6日出動飛機將部分美國駐也門外交人員撤回，華盛頓還敦促美國公民立即離開也門。

五角大樓發言人喬治·利特爾在聲明中稱，美國空軍應國務院的請求從也門首都薩那撤離了部分人員。聲明說：“美國國防部依然有人在也門駐紮，支持美國國務院，監控安全形勢。”

美國國務院在網站發表聲明說：“國務院力勸美國公民推遲前往也門，並敦促目前居住在也門的美國公民立即撤離。因恐怖襲擊的威脅持續上升，2013年8月6日，美國國務院下令美國政府駐也門的非緊急人員撤離。”

美國國務院發言人普薩基表示，儘管美國採取上述舉措，但美國和也門的關係仍然牢固。“這只是再次重申對緊急而具體的威脅做出的迴應，美國將繼續和也門在一系列問題上進行合作。”普薩基在新聞發佈會上說。

英國也於6日表示已撤離駐也門首都薩那大使館的全體人員，並稱“武裝部落、不法分子和恐怖分子實施綁架的威脅程度很高。”荷蘭也建議該國公民撤離也門。

法國海外僑民事務官員海倫妮·康韋·穆雷表示，法國方面依然建議在也門的法國公民“務必謹慎，儘量不要四處走動。”

也門外交部長阿布·貝克爾·庫爾比批評美國採取的舉措，“很遺憾，儘管這些措施是用來保護他們（美國）的公民，但事實上這正中恐怖分子下懷。” 庫爾比說：“也門已嚴肅對待這些恐怖威脅，且已採取所有必要措施保證外國駐也門使館的安全。”

也門最高安全委員會發布聲明，稱已獲悉基地組織密謀在本週開齋節期間發起襲擊的情報。該委員會還公佈了也門安全部隊通緝的25名基地組織高級成員名單，將對提供有效線索的人頒發500萬也門裏亞爾（約合2.3萬美元）獎金。

聲明說：“我們已獲得情報，基地組織恐怖分子策劃在神聖的齋月後期及開齋節期間針對公共設施和場所發動襲擊。”

也門是最貧窮的阿拉伯國家之一，也是基地組織阿拉伯半島分支總部所在地，該分支是本·拉登創建的基地組織網絡中非常活躍的分支，曾發起過針對西方的攻擊。