DUBAI, 28 March 2004 — The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai reopened yesterday, an embassy spokesperson said, after the missions closed abruptly amid fears of an attack. “We have reopened,” the spokesperson told AFP. “It’s business as usual.” The embassy and consulate shut on Wednesday in response to a “specific threat” to the Abu Dhabi mission as Washington sounded a terror warning to Americans worldwide following Israel’s assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City on Monday.
Police in the United Arab Emirates said Wednesday that they were questioning a suspect in connection with the threats which Emirati officials said were not linked to the assassination. A local paper said Thursday that the suspect was Somali and had volunteered information to embassy officials about arms caches in his country that led a rival Somali group to link him to a “dubious” terror threat to the embassy. The US embassy did not comment on the report.
