SANAA, 10 April 2005 — Yemeni government officials yesterday played down US and British warnings of possible terrorist attacks against their citizens or interests in the country.

The US and British embassies in Sanaa remained closed to the public yesterday following the warnings. “The embassy is closed today. All employees were asked not to come,” a telephone operator at the US Embassy told Arab News. He did not say when the embassy would resume regular operations.

An English language institute run by the US Embassy was also closed yesterday for “security reasons”, one teacher said.

On Friday, the US State Department ramped up its travel advisory for Yemen, citing fears of potential attacks by extremists. The warning also authorized non-emergency personnel and families of diplomats to leave Yemen.

The British Embassy was also closed yesterday after a travel advisory by the Foreign Office citing “evidence that terrorists may target Western, including British, interests in Yemen”. No one at the embassy responded to phone calls.

“Our embassy is currently closed for the weekend and in light of a current, credible threat to Western interests the embassy will temporarily suspend services on Saturday 9 April,” the Foreign Office advisory posted on the embassy’s website said.

It also warned British nationals against traveling to areas close to the troubled Saada province in northwestern Yemen, but the State Department advisory cited no concerns over the fighting going on in the region.

The advisory said the suspension would be kept under review, asking UK nationals in Yemen to be “particularly vigilant in places frequented by foreigners, such as hotels.”

A senior official at the Yemeni Foreign Ministry said there was no specific threat associated with the warnings issued by the State Department and Foreign Office.

“The American warning is more than a week old and the British warning is three days old,” the official said, adding “there was no specific threat” linked to either.

The British Embassy was closed for one week last January due to information about possible attacks against British targets in the country.

Eight suspected Al-Qaeda supporters are currently standing trial before a state security court in Sanaa charged with plotting to bomb the embassies of the United Kingdom and Italy and a French cultural center. Yemeni officials say all Western embassies in the country have been under heavy security since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

Meanwhile, government forces continued to hunt down rebels in the mountainous northwest following fierce clashes that have left over 200 people dead in less than a fortnight.

Officials said government forces were still trying to track down followers of a slain rebel preacher with whom they have been locked in combat since March 28.

Tribal sources said the insurgents are believed to have retreated north to Lawdiya, a rugged area, as the noose tightens around them, and fresh clashes broke out there overnight. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Earlier, seven policemen and 19 rebels were killed in street clashes in Saada town Friday.

A 12-year-old boy was among an undetermined number of civilians killed in the shootouts with members of the Believing Youth movement, the source said while updating the figures given on Friday. Nine police were wounded and five rebels arrested.

Friday’s clashes inside Saada town followed two days of fierce fighting in mountain areas during which more than 70 rebels were killed before government forces took control of their outposts in Razamat, Wadi Nushur and Al-Shafia, according to tribal sources.

The fighting on Wednesday and Thursday also left more than 30 soldiers and police dead or wounded. Dozens of militants have been rounded up.