Britain said that it has identified a “potential threat” to its embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, days after warning of a threat to Westerners in the eastern city of Benghazi.
“We’re aware of a potential threat to the British embassy in Tripoli and we are liaising closely with the Libyan Government,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
The Foreign Office, which already warns against “all but essential travel” to the Libyan capital, said its travel advice remained unchanged.
On Thursday, Britain had warned of a “specific and imminent threat to Westerners” in Benghazi and urged its citizens to leave the city, which was the cradle of the uprising that ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Several other Western nations followed Britain’s lead and told their citizens to pull out, sparking anger from Libya which said the threat had been exaggerated.
“I think that there was exaggeration on behalf of some countries, who took some preventive measures and we can understand that,” Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan had said on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
“But the reality is that these people of foreign nationality live very peacefully in Libya and there are security measures to protect them.”
On Sunday Britain also urged its nationals to leave the self-declared nation of Somaliland, warning of a “specific” threat against Westerners in the northern Somali region.