US to Reopen Most Embassies and Consulates Closed from Terror Threat - East Idaho News
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US to Reopen Most Embassies and Consulates Closed from Terror Threat

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173060261?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1376091452211JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The State Department has announced that nearly all of the diplomatic posts closed this week amid terror threats from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula will be re-opened on Sunday.

Out of the 19 embassies and consulates shuttered, only the U.S. embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, will remain closed.

On Tuesday, the State Department evacuated all non-emergency personnel from Yemen, where al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is based and the threat is thought to be the greatest.

The U.S. consulate in Lahore, Pakistan, where diplomats were evacuated on Thursday, will also remain closed. The consulate was closed because of a separate “credible threat” from the one that led to the shutdown of the other 19 posts, the State Department said.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki gave no indication in a prepared statement on when the Yemen and Pakistan posts would be re-opened, saying the agency needed to continue to evaluate the threats before making a decision.

“We will also continue to evaluate information about these and all of our posts and to take appropriate steps to best protect the safety of our personnel, American citizens traveling overseas and visitors to our facilities,” said Psaki.

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