US reopens Yemen embassy after ‘Qaeda threat’

In this Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013 file photo, a Yemeni soldiers checks a car at a checkpoint on a street leading to the U.S. and British embassies in Sanaa, Yemen. Gunmen believed to be from al-Qaida killed five Yemeni soldiers early Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013 at a checkpoint in a southern province, attacking the surprised soldiers who were guarding oil and gas projects in the Radhum area of Shabwa province a Yemeni official said. AP FILE PHOTO/Hani Mohammed

WASHINGTON – The United States has reopened its embassy in Yemen, the State Department said Tuesday, two weeks after it closed for fear of an Al-Qaeda attack.

A statement said that the embassy in Sanaa had “re-opened to provide limited public services” on Sunday.

Sanaa was one of 19 US consulates and embassies in the Muslim world that were shut on August 4 amid what American officials said was a threat of an imminent attack.

The other missions had already re-opened, but Yemen — the home base of the militant faction Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — was seen as the epicenter of the threat.

Yemeni authorities have since claimed to have thwarted the alleged plot, and there have been several reports of US drone strikes killing suspected militants.