'Possible threat' closes 2 U.S. embassies

From Marty Kramer and Andrea Koppel
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. embassies in Bucharest, Romania, and Sofia, Bulgaria, were closed to the public Thursday because of "possible threats" apparently related to the violence in the Middle East and rising anti-American sentiment in the region, State Department officials said.

"Each post will look at its security posture and reopen at an appropriate time," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. He would not speculate on when they would reopen.

Boucher said the two closed embassies will reopen "at an appropriate time."

"There is information about possible threats against these embassies and ... that made them decide to close to review security postures," he said.

Details were scarce.

"The information is very vague," said one State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It only named those two posts."

Another senior State Department official added that the threats are "Middle East-related" but said it's not clear if they are specifically related to Israeli-Palestinian unrest.

"The worldwide caution we put out on June 22 does indicate that posts may temporarily suspend operations or close to the public in response to threat information, security concerns or simply to review security postures," Boucher said.

That worldwide caution mentioned threats by indicted terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden. Boucher would not say if these closings are linked to bin Laden.

"I cannot discuss in detail the reasons for the security review, but I would not draw that conclusion," he said.

Another State Department official said the "more likely scenario" is that the threats are linked to the Middle East situation rather than to bin Laden.

Boucher said embassy officials had told U.S. citizens in their areas about the closings, and citizens needing emergency assistance can still call the embassies.