U.S. orders staff out of Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department has ordered all nonessential personnel serving in the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia and their families out of the country, according to an updated travel warning issued Thursday.
The warning also strongly urged private U.S. citizens to leave the kingdom.
"The threat situation is such that we feel we need to have a lower profile, not because the Saudi government isn't working hard, but because we are concerned about the level of threat" to those personnel and facilities, a senior State Department official said.
"The U.S. government has received recent and credible information indicating that extremists are planning further attacks against U.S. and Western interests," the travel warning said.
"Credible information indicates that terrorists continue to target residential compounds in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the Riyadh area, but also compounds throughout the country."
Saudi Arabia ratcheted up its hunt for terrorists after al Qaeda-led suicide attacks on Riyadh housing compounds last May and again in November.
Forty people were killed in the attacks and hundreds more were wounded. The figures do not include the 12 suicide bombers in the May attack.
A gunbattle Monday night in Riyadh between Saudi police and gunmen believed to be wanted terrorists left one Saudi security officer dead, an Interior Ministry official said. One militant was killed and four others wounded, the official said.
In a counterterrorism operation April 5, one alleged militant was killed and another wounded.
On March 15, U.S. government officials said a top al Qaeda leader in the region, Abu Hazim al-Sha'ir, was killed in a shootout.
CNN's Elise Labott contributed to this report.
