U.S. embassy in Djibouti closes for three days to review security

NAIROBI (Reuters) – The U.S. Embassy in Djibouti has closed its doors for three days while it reviews the security in the tiny Horn of Africa state that hosts an American military base, the embassy said in a statement posted on its website.

In addition to hosting U.S. and French military bases, Djibouti also contributes troops to the African Union mission (AMISOM) trying to stabilize neighboring Somalia to the south.

The embassy did not say if there was any imminent threat.

“The U.S. Embassy will be closed to the public on Thursday, March 19, to review its security posture,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its Facebook an Twitter accounts, adding it would reopen for regular business on March 22.

A State Department official said the embassy took the decision “in light of ongoing threats,” but declined to elaborate.

Last May, a man and a woman blew themselves up at a restaurant in Djibouti filled with Western military personnel, killing a Turkish national and wounding several Western soldiers. The Somali militant group al Shabaab later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has carried out many gun and bomb attacks outside Somalia, including as assault on a Kenyan shopping mall in September 2013 that killed 67 people.