U.S., U.K. close embassies in Yemen

The British and U.S. embassies in Yemen have closed because of the threat of attack from an al-Qaeda affiliate linked to the failed Christmas Day attack on a U.S. passenger aircraft.

The U.S. Embassy posted a message on its website Sunday saying it was closed "in response to ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen."

The U.K. Foreign Office later said it, too, had shut its embassy in the capital Sanaa "for security reasons."

Americans in Yemen have been told to be vigilant and practise security awareness.

"We're not going to take any chances" with the lives of American diplomats and others at the embassy, White House aide John Brennan said. "There are indications al-Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of Sanaa, possibly our embassy."

On Saturday, President Barack Obama said al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula appeared to have trained the Nigerian man accused of trying to ignite a bomb on a Northwest Airlines plane during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit last month.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Friday he will host a meeting in London on Jan. 28 to discuss how to counter Islamist radicalization in Yemen.

The two countries have also agreed to back a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen.

"We've been working with the Americans to strengthen counterterrorism co-operation in Yemen," Brown told the BBC on Sunday. "Yemen has been recognized, like Somalia, to be one of the areas where we've got to not only keep an eye on, but we've got to do more."

The U.S. plans to more than double its counterterrorism aid to the impoverished, fragmented Arab nation in the coming year to support Yemen's campaign against al-Qaeda.