12:25 27 January 2013
"We are aware of a specific and imminent threat to Westerners in Benghazi, and urge any British nationals who remain there against our advice to leave immediately." This is what the Foreign Office had to say after reports that MI6 had picked up a “credible threat” linked to last week’s Algerian raid in which al-Qeada militants killed dozens of foreign workers at a BP gas complex.
Sources suggest that the threat was specifically made against the British School of Benghazi. For this reason, the school and other international institutes have announced that they will close for at least a week for safety reasons.
Several reports suggest that there’s a link between Libya and the Algerian hostage takers. It is believed that the weapons used by the kidnappers came from the country and that some militants who were involved in the raid were also involved in last year’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.
Furthermore, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al-Qaeda military leader behind the Algerian operation has close ties to Libya and is still on the loose.