CAIRO: Canada on Monday joined Britain in closing its embassy in Cairo to the public for security reasons, with neither country providing details about any specific threat.

The move comes amid increasing attacks by militants in Egypt and calls from the Islamic State terror group for attacks on Western targets.

The Canadian Embassy said in a statement that it would be closed “due to security reasons” on Monday, with a separate e-mail to Canadian citizens in Egypt saying this would be “until further notice.”

The British Embassy also remained closed after shutting its public services on Sunday.

British Ambassador John Casson said the decision had been taken “to ensure the security of the embassy and our staff.”

“We are working to restore full services as quickly as possible,” he said.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said he was unaware “of any specific threat” to the missions.

“They informed us that it is a precautionary action... but we are dealing with the matter seriously,” he told AFP.

“Our security apparatus is applying maximum security measures on the ground and we hope that the embassies do not exaggerate the matter out of context.”