'Terrorism' threat in UAE high, UK says

TERROR ALERT: There is a 'high' threat of terrorism in the UAE, according to the British Embassy web site. (Getty Images)

The threat of terrorism in the UAE has been upgraded to "high" by the UK in guidance to citizens travelling and living abroad.

The guidance, last updated on Saturday, previously stated that there was a “general” threat.

"We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said on its website.

The FCO warned that terrorists could target places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests.

"Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time," it said.

The FCO said people should "maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places".

However, the FCO said the "vast majority" of visits to the UAE were "trouble-free", adding that the main type of incidents involving British nationals were arrests or detentions related to alcohol or drugs.

A British Embassy spokesperson told Arabian Business the UK was not advising people to change their travel plans.

“We issue travel guidance for every country and it is constantly updated,” Simon Goldsmith said in a telephone interview on Monday.

“Threat levels tend to go up and down and essentially what we are doing is advising British travellers and residents to maintain their level of security awareness.

"What we are not doing and I underline ‘not’, is advising people to change their travel plans.”

The FCO said there was "general" threat of terrorism in the other five Gulf states, except Saudi Arabia which also has a "high" terrorism threat level.

Excluding Saudi Arabia, terrorist attacks in the Gulf are rare. According to the FCO, the only incident of note was a suicide-bomb attack on March 19, 2005 outside the Doha Players’ Theatre in Qatar. One British national was killed and at least 12 other people were injured.

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READERS' COMMENTS

What can you do?
Posted by Sherif Hosny, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 22 June 2008 at 10:03 UAE time

A terrorism attack is a probability whether the UK, US or Afghan embassy issue an alert or not.
The reason why everyone is so upset is because this idyllic place we all live in has been exposed to a reality and we don't want that to recognize it. We want to keep living in this dream land of wealth, growth and prosperity without having to think about the real world.

The question is: what you can do about it? Will you stay home for ever? Well what if your home is attacked. There is no place to go and nothing that anyone can do except keep an eye open of any strange things happening around you instead of blaming the entire world for ruining the image of your fantasy land.

Causes of terrorism
Posted by Rodger, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Thursday 19 June 2008 at 11:26 UAE time


Daniel, if you're going to make self-righteous pronouncements on Middle Eastern socio-political situations, you would do well to first of all establish what an Arab looks like. The people working on the building sites are primarily South Asians, not Arabs. Like the "rich westerners" that so disgust you, they are guests in this country who have come here voluntarily in order to provide a living for their families at home. That's not to say that many of them are not exploited, but enforcement of the UAE labour law is a matter for the local authorities and has nothing to do with western expats.

Why?
Posted by Daniel, Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday 18 June 2008 at 08:00 UAE time

I don't think a terrorist attack is likely to occur upon the basis on this level changing.

However, for me, the underlying question is WHY people are motivated to attack areas such as Dubai. When I visited I was shocked and disgusted to see rich westerners living in huge houses whilst thousands of Arabs worked long hours in horrific conditions for little money on the construction sites. I would suggest that the best way to minimize the threat of terrorism would be to address this underlying inequality. That is not to avoid the issue that terrorism is morally wrong.

No Gurantees
Posted by jasoir, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 17 June 2008 at 18:05 UAE time


The UK is being damned for their warning, yet they would be very much damned if they did not.......? Who out there can gurantee the UAE would never be attacked?
This region is not exempt from a terrorist strike, Jordan, Doha and KSA have experienced terrorism first hand in recent years.

Let us not forget UK has encountered terrorism more than any other nation over the decades, with that in mind I trust their intelligence and not offended by a mere warning, more grateful.

I hope those persons who feel this is an economic or scaremongering ploy from the UK are correct and this disappears into 'yesterdays news' because the consequences of the opposite are unthinkable............However not unimaginable! Better to be safe than sorry.

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