U.S. Temporarily Closes 6 Embassies in Africa
The United States temporarily closed six of its embassies Thursday because of security concerns, the State Department said.
The embassies are to be shut until Monday as a precaution because they are believed to have been under surveillance by suspicious individuals, a department employee said on condition of anonymity.
The embassies are in Gambia, Togo, Madagascar, Liberia, Namibia and Senegal. The department has received no specific threats.
The department noted that U.S. embassies in Africa and the rest of the world have been on a heightened alert status because of increased security concerns.
Most U.S. embassies in sub-Saharan Africa were ordered closed for two days in December after U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. The U.S. Embassy in Uganda also has closed on a few occasions because of security concerns since the nearly simultaneous bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August.
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