Al Qaeda behind threat against U.S. embassy in South Africa

Al Qaeda is reported to be behind the threat that closed down U.S. government facilities in South Africa. A local newspaper says an Al Qaeda-linked splinter group based in Africa telephoned the U.S. embassy to make the threats.

The Star newspaper says a suspected African Al Qaeda splinter group telephoned the United States Embassy in Pretoria on Monday. The call was identified as “emanating from South Africa.” The newspaper said the caller described plans to attack several U.S. government buildings. The U.S. has its embassy in Pretoria, consulates in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and offices of the government aid organisation, USAID. The calls were reportedly intercepted by US intelligence. The Star said the recent killing by US Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, of a leading Al Qaeda operative, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, during a raid on a rebel convoy in southern Somalia, triggered the threats. Nabhan was linked to the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which hundreds of people died and was said to be the mastermind behind the attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa in 2002 in which three Kenyans and 10 Israelis were killed. U.S. facilities in other Southern African countries were apparently also threatened, but no buildings there were closed. It is believed the U.S. government will open its facilities Friday.