AZERBAIJAN FOILS U.S. EMBASSY ATTACK BY ISLAMIC GROUP
By Henry Meyer
Bloomberg
Oct 29 2007
Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — Security forces in oil-rich Azerbaijan
prevented a planned terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in the
capital Baku by fundamentalist Islamic militants, officials said. An
Azerbaijani terrorist group aimed to attack government buildings and
the U.S. Embassy in Baku, National Security Ministry spokesman Arif
Babayev said in a telephone interview today.
Law enforcement officers killed one of suspected militants when he
resisted arrest and detained others during an early morning operation
outside the capital on Oct. 27, Babayev said. The United States and
the U.K. today closed their embassies in Baku in response to "security
concerns." The mainly Muslim Caspian Sea nation has sought closer ties
with the U.S., helping complete a U.S.-supported oil pipeline from the
Caspian to Turkey and sending troops to support military operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The militants included an army officer who
deserted from his unit a few days ago, taking a store of automatic
weapons and grenades with him, the security official said. Authorities
are searching for the officer, Babayev added. He provided no further
details about the group. U.S. officials in Baku late yesterday sent
a statement to Americans living there to be on guard and to bolster
their personal security. `Vigilance’ "While there is no information
at this time that other American or Western interests in Azerbaijan
are being targeted, the U.S. Embassy encourages Americans to maintain
a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to bolster their
own personal security," the message said. In Washington, U.S. State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the embassy had scaled back
operations while it works with Azerbaijani authorities on "threat
information" it received.
He gave no specifics of the threat. "I think we’re in a good posture
now," McCormack told reporters. "I would expect that they will
resume normal operations in the days to come." U.S. Embassy spokesman
Jonathan Henick said by telephone from Baku that only a few of the
400 U.S. and local staff at the embassy were working today. A British
Foreign Office spokeswoman said by telephone from London that, owing
to "local security concerns," the U.K. closed its embassy in Baku to
the public. The spokeswoman declined to be identified in line with
Foreign Office rules. BP Plc is a major foreign investor in Azerbaijan,
which has 0.58 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and 47.7
trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, according to the BP
Statistical Review. Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet
Union in 1991. It borders Iran, Turkey and Russia as well as Armenia
and Georgia.