US Embassy warns ofunspecified threat in Yemen:FBI in Yemen soon [Archives:2003/673/Front Page]

Reuters
Washginton/Sana'a, Sept 30 (Reuters) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will soon open an office in Yemen as part of the U.S. global “war on terror”, the American ambassador said on Tuesday.
“Yes, the FBI is setting up office in Sanaa,” U.S. ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull told Reuters.
“We expect it to happen within the next two months,” said Hull, a former head of the counter-terrorism office at the U.S. State Department.
He said the legal attache who would lead the operations is expected to arrive in Yemen in this period but declined to give further details.
This comes a day after the U.S. Embassy in Yemen advised Americans in the country to take exceptional precautions because of an unspecified threat, according to a notice seen on the embassy Web site on Monday.
“The United States Embassy has received new information from the Yemeni government regarding a potential new threat to foreign-affiliated and Yemeni targets,” said the message circulated to U.S. citizens on Sunday.
“United States citizens should review and update their security procedures and take exceptional precautions at this time,” the message added.
The embassy advised Americans to take special care when they visit hotels, restaurants and other places frequented by foreigners, such as the Sanaa Trade Center, American-affiliated franchises, and restaurants and shops in the Haddah area of the capital Sanaa.
It called a meeting of “wardens” at the ambassador's residence in Sanaa on Tuesday to discuss security. The volunteer wardens are the first contact point in the chain for disseminating security information to Americans abroad.
Yemen is currently battling Islamic militants, particularly the al Qaeda network, blamed for the 2000 bombings of the U.S.
warship Cole and a supertanker in Yemeni waters in 2002.
Yemen's government is treading a fine line between domestic anti-U.S. sentiment and its need for foreign aid and investment, much of which comes from the United States.
Security in Sana'a has been heightened after the U.S. embassy's warning as checkpoints have been set up around Sana'a and the military were looking for stolen and unregistered cars near the airport outside the city, a source close to the Defence Ministry said.
So far the FBI has operated by sending agents into Yemen temporarily and in limited numbers. The FBI plans to set up about 10 new overseas offices this year as part of a decade-long overseas expansion.
In the Arab world, it has missions in the Egyptian capital Cairo and the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
Hull said bureau in the Yemeni capital Sana'a would focus on attacks on U.S. citizens, money laundering and extradition cases ) all with the help of Yemen's judiciary.
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