Tight security around embassies, airport in Yemen

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SANAA, Jan 4 (AFP): Security has been ratcheted up around the airport and foreign embassies here, Yemeni officials said Monday, amid fears of strikes by an Al-Qaeda branch linked to a botched attack on a US airliner.
The measures come as US authorities announced intensifying airport security checks on passengers travelling from or via 14 'terror linked' countries, including Yemen.
The US and British embassies in Sanaa remained shut Monday after closing their doors a day earlier for what they said were reasons of security, officials said.
Yemeni officials, asking not to be named, told the news agency security had been tightened outside the American and British missions as well as around other foreign missions in the capital.
The US embassy Sunday said it was closing its doors in response to "ongoing threats by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to attack American interests in Yemen."
Britain followed suit, with a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London confirming its Sanaa embassy had been closed "for security reasons."
US President Barack Obama has accused the Yemen-based AQAP of arming and training a Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day.
AQAP claimed responsibility for the failed attack and called for strikes on embassies in Yemen.
A Yemeni security official said that police measures 'were intensified' on the road to the airport "following the closure of the US embassy."
"These measures are preventive in case of any attacks by Al-Qaeda in the country, mainly as the road to Sanaa airport is vital," he said requesting anonymity.