Pentagon: US flies some personnel out of Sanaa, Yemen

The US Air Force on Tuesday flew some American personnel out of Sanaa, Yemen, the Pentagon said, as the United States told its citizens to leave the country and ordered the evacuation of non-essential government staff because of a terror threat.      

"In response to a request from the U.S. State Department, early this morning the U.S. Air Force transported personnel out of Sanaa, Yemen, as part of a reduction in emergency personnel," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement.                 

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.                        

Britain's Foreign Office also said it has evacuated all staff from its embassy in Yemen due to increased security concerns. The Foreign Office said the British Embassy staff were "temporarily withdrawn to the UK" on Tuesday. It declined to comment further.              

Earlier, a suspected US drone killed four alleged al-Qaeda members in Yemen amid reports of a threatened attack by al-Qaeda that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Muslim world.              

The attack Tuesday was the fourth in two weeks.      

Yemen officials said the drone fired a missile at a car carrying four men in the al-Arqeen district of Marib province, setting it on fire and killing all of them. They believed that one of the dead is Saleh Jouti, a senior al-Qaeda member.              

To the west, in the capital Sanaa, residents awoke to the sound of an aircraft buzzing overhead. Officials said it was an American, and photos posted on Instagram appeared to show a P-3 Orion, a manned aircraft used for surveillance. All officials spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to brief the media.        

Yemeni authorities released the names of 25 wanted al-Qaeda suspects on Monday, saying they were planning terrorist attacks in the capital, Sanaa, and other cities across the country.           

A statement from Yemen's Interior Ministry said the suspects were going to target foreign offices and organizations, as well as Yemeni government installations in the impoverished Arab country. It said security was beefed up around embassies, ports, airports, oil installations and power stations.


REUTERS/AP