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State Department Issues Worldwide Caution For U.S. Citizens

September 26, 2013

The State Department released a Worldwide Caution statement on Thursday, warning U.S. citizens of continuing threats of terrorist action and violence aimed against them. Al Qaeda, affiliated organizations, and other terrorist groups are specifically targeting United States interests in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, according to the State Department.

The State Department highlighted Turkey, where recent terrorist acts have been conducted. The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara last February 1st.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Meghreb, and Hezbollah were singled out as threats to American interests in the Middle East and North Africa. A dozen people, including three U.S. citizens, were killed in a January terrorist attack on a natural gas facility in Amenas, Algeria. A U.S. citizen was killed during demonstrations in Egypt on June 28 and another was murdered outside the U.S. Embassy in May.

The State Department warned of the alliance between al Shabaab and al Qaeda in Africa. Al Shabaab took credit for the murder of 60 people in a terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya on Sept 21.

Terrorist organizations have conducted operations in South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan, against U.S. interests and no part of Afghanistan should be considered immune from violence. An attack in Kabul City was conducted against a U.S. government facility adjacent to the Presidential Palace and against the U.S. Embassy.

This replaces the last caution released in February and warns that any place where U.S. citizens gather in large numbers are potential targets.