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Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka: US and Israel warn of possible attacks on tourist sites in the coastal area
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Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka: US and Israel warn of possible attacks on tourist sites in the coastal area



CNN

Both the United States and Israel issued security alerts on Wednesday warning of a possible attack on tourist sites in a coastal area of ​​Sri Lanka.

The US Embassy alert said they had “received credible information warning of an attack on popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area.”

“Due to the serious risk posed by this threat, the Embassy has imposed a travel restriction on Embassy personnel to Arugam Bay, effective immediately and until further notice,” the report said, noting that U.S. citizens “are strongly urged to visit the Arugam Bay area to be avoided until further notice. notification.”

Israel’s National Security Council alert calls on Israeli citizens to “immediately leave Arugam Bay and the south and west coast areas of Sri Lanka.” Israel has raised its travel advisory level for Sri Lanka due to “credible terrorism threats in the tourist and coastal areas,” the report said.

“The travel alert for Arugam Bay and the coastal areas of southern and western Sri Lanka (including for the cities of Ahangame, Galle, Hikkaduwa and Weligama) has been raised to level 4,” the report said. “We recommend leaving these areas immediately. For those currently in these areas, we recommend leaving the country or at least traveling to the capital Colombo, where local security forces have a heavier presence.”

The warning also advises Israeli citizens “not to openly display anything that could identify you as an Israeli, such as t-shirts with Hebrew writing or any symbol that reveals your religion or nationality.”

None of the warnings elaborate on the nature of the possible attack. There have been protests in Sri Lanka’s Buddhist majority against Israel’s war in Gaza. However, there have been no major terrorist attacks in the country since the Easter Sunday 2019 attack, when suicide bombers launched a coordinated series of attacks on three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels across Sri Lanka, killing 270 people and another 500 were injured.