UK and France reopen their embassies in Yemen

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UK Embassy in Yemen

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New DElhi: The UK and France have reopened their embassies in Yemen, after they were closed earlier this week in response to a possible al-Qaeda threat. The British embassy said its public services still remained closed, and that the security situation was being assessed on a daily basis. The US reopened its embassy in the capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday. It said successful counter-terrorism operations by Yemeni forces had addressed a "specific area of concern". The statement apparently referred to an operation on Monday, some 25 miles north of Sanaa, in which two suspected members of al-Qaeda were killed. The difficulties of travel within Yemen have prevented the BBC from independently verifying details of the reported raid. But the BBC's Jeremy Bowen, in Sanaa, says he saw military jets flying over the capital on Monday afternoon and into the evening, suggesting some kind of operation was under way.