US to reopen embassies, consulates after threat

WASHINGTON -- Eighteen U.S. diplomatic outposts closed because of a terrorist threat will reopen Sunday, but the U.S. Embassy in Yemen will remain closed.

The State Department cites ongoing concerns about potential terrorist attacks by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula for keeping the embassy in Sanaa shut. An intercepted message between al-Qaida officials triggered the 19 closures.

Most American employees at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen were ordered to leave the country on Tuesday because of the threat.

A separate threat has also led to the closure of the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan. It, too, remains closed.

The closures have called into question Obama's assertion last spring that al-Qaida's headquarters was "a shadow of its former self." But at a news conference yesterday, the president noted that he's also said that al-Qaida and other extremists have "metastasized into regional groups that can pose significant dangers."

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middle east, pakistan, terrorism, national/world

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