WASHINGTON: The US yesterday ordered its non-emergency government employees and their family members to depart Abuja, Nigeria, citing a heightened risk of terrorist attacks.
The order was announced in an updated State Department advisory which warned US citizens to reconsider travel to the African country due to crime, terrorism, and other threats.
The order follows a warning from the US and Britain on Sunday of an elevated risk of terror attacks in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
Nigeria is in a conflict with an Islamist insurgency primarily in the country’s northeast.
The Islamic State in July claimed responsibility for a raid on a prison in Abuja, freeing some 440 inmates and raising fears that insurgents were spreading further.
In addition to Abuja, the US advised citizens not to travel to a number of Nigerian states, including Borno and Yobe in the northeast.