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US pulls staff from Lahore consulate over 'threats'
The United States evacuated all non-emergency staff from its consulate in the Pakistani city of Lahore, citing "specific threats" amid a worldwide alert over Al-Qaeda intercepts.
The travel warning issued by the State Department on Thursday also reiterated longstanding advice to US citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Pakistan.
The closure comes as Pakistan celebrates the festival of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and a day after a suicide bomber killed 38 people at a police funeral in the southwestern city of Quetta.
"On August 8, 2013, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel from the US Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan," a State department statement said.
"The Department of State ordered this drawdown due to specific threats concerning the US Consulate in Lahore.
"The presence of several foreign and indigenous terrorist groups poses a potential danger to US citizens throughout Pakistan."
Meghan Gregoris, spokeswoman for the US embassy in Islamabad, said the evacuation was not linked to a terror threat that prompted the closure of 19 diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa.
"We received information regarding a threat to our consulate in Lahore. As a precautionary measure we have undertaken a drawdown for all but emergency personnel in Lahore," she told AFP.
The US embassy and consulates in Karachi and Peshawar were closed Friday for the Eid al-Fitr public holiday but are expected to open again on Monday, she said. But the Lahore mission was likely to remain closed and there was currently "no indication" of when it might reopen.
"We will continue to evaluate threat reporting and take decisions as appropriate," she said.
Despite Pakistan's fractious alliance with the United States in the "war on terror", anti-American sentiment runs deep in the restive country, fuelled in part by the CIA's campaign of drone strikes against militants in the tribal northwest.
AFP: US pulls staff from Lahore consulate over 'threats'
