Embassy Warns Britons in Uae of Terror Threat

Britain has warned its nationals living in or visiting the United Arab Emirates that terrorists may be planning indiscriminate attacks at any time.

A statement posted on the website of the British embassy in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, said the country now faces "a high threat of terrorism". The previous level referred to a "general threat from terrorism". The other categories are "underlying" and "low". The alert level was under constant review, the embassy said.

"We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," it added. "Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time."

The UAE, comprising seven emirates including Dubai, is home to 100,000 British expatriates and is visited by a million holidaymakers from the UK a year. The Gulf country's booming economy is a magnet for foreign investment.

The Foreign Office refused yesterday to elaborate on the reasons behind the warning, which was issued on Saturday. It is assumed to refer to al-Qaida, assessed to have suffered serious setbacks in Iraq but still seeking to mount spectacular attacks against "soft" western targets. Al-Qaida is known to be aware of revulsion at the killing of Muslims.

The change in the threat level was not a change to travel advice, the Foreign Office insisted, and was based on advice from posts, intelligence and other elements.

The UAE is a conservative Muslim country but has become a major regional hub attracting millions of tourists each year, mainly to the bustling city-state of Dubai - which is known for its liberal lifestyle.

It also hosts regular visits by US navy ships, and is likely to be the first Arab country to send an ambassador to Iraq.

Possible targets include places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers, such as residential compounds, as well as "military, oil, transport and aviation interests", according to the embassy. Its language suggests there is no specific threat. In other cases of intelligence about terrorist attacks embassies have been temporarily evacuated, relocated or closed.

The UAE does not have heavy security measures in place and it has not suffered any serious incidents. No other western embassies in the country have issued similar warnings.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia has fought a wave of violence waged by al-Qaida since 2003, including attacks targeting foreign tourists, residential compounds and oil installations. Its impoverished neighbor Yemen has also suffered several attacks claimed by al-Qaida. In Qatar one Briton was killed and 12 people wounded in a suicide bombing at a theatre near a British school in 2005.

The UAE could be seen as a particularly attractive target for al-Qaida as more than 80% of the 5.6-million population are foreigners. Many are poorly paid construction workers from south Asia, but there are thousands of professionals too. Dubai attracts huge numbers of Britons investing in its booming real estate sector, including skyscrapers and luxury hotels. The UAE has the world's fifth largest oil reserves.

Tristan Cooper, a risk analyst at Moody's Investors Service, warned the terror threat could damage the UAE economy. "It could ... be hit by a political shock that slowed the inflow of expatriate labor or, in a more extreme scenario, caused resident expatriates to leave the country," he told the Dow Jones newswire.