美撤回部分驻也门外交官 敦促美国公民撤离

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Britain also said on Tuesday it had withdrawn all staff from its embassy in the capital Sanaa, adding there was "a very high threat of kidnap from armed tribes, criminals and terrorists".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

据英国路透社8月6日报道，美国空军8月6日出动飞机将部分美国驻也门外交人员撤回，华盛顿还敦促美国公民立即离开也门。

五角大楼发言人乔治·利特尔在声明中称，美国空军应国务院的请求从也门首都萨那撤离了部分人员。声明说：“美国国防部依然有人在也门驻扎，支持美国国务院，监控安全形势。”

美国国务院在网站发表声明说：“国务院力劝美国公民推迟前往也门，并敦促目前居住在也门的美国公民立即撤离。因恐怖袭击的威胁持续上升，2013年8月6日，美国国务院下令美国政府驻也门的非紧急人员撤离。”

美国国务院发言人普萨基表示，尽管美国采取上述举措，但美国和也门的关系仍然牢固。“这只是再次重申对紧急而具体的威胁做出的回应，美国将继续和也门在一系列问题上进行合作。”普萨基在资讯发布会上说。

英国也于6日表示已撤离驻也门首都萨那大使馆的全体人员，并称“武装部落、不法分子和恐怖分子实施绑架的威胁程度很高。”荷兰也建议该国公民撤离也门。

法国海外侨民事务官员海伦妮·康韦·穆雷表示，法国方面依然建议在也门的法国公民“务必谨慎，尽量不要四处走动。”

也门外交部长阿布·贝克尔·库尔比批评美国采取的举措，“很遗憾，尽管这些措施是用来保护他们（美国）的公民，但事实上这正中恐怖分子下怀。” 库尔比说：“也门已严肃对待这些恐怖威胁，且已采取所有必要措施保证外国驻也门使馆的安全。”

也门最高安全委员会发布声明，称已获悉基地组织密谋在本周开斋节期间发起袭击的情报。该委员会还公布了也门安全部队通缉的25名基地组织高级成员名单，将对提供有效线索的人颁发500万也门里亚尔（约合2.3万美元）奖金。

声明说：“我们已获得情报，基地组织恐怖分子策划在神圣的斋月后期及开斋节期间针对公共设施和场所发动袭击。”

也门是最贫穷的阿拉伯国家之一，也是基地组织阿拉伯半岛分支总部所在地，该分支是本·拉登创建的基地组织网络中非常活跃的分支，曾发起过针对西方的攻击。