Gov’t heightens security after Interpol alert

MANILA, Philippines – In the wake of the Interpol’s global security alert, Malacañang on Sunday, August 4, said the government is “intensifying intelligence gathering” and heightening security measures against possible targets in the country. 

Interpol issued a global security alert Saturday, August 3 after a series of jailbreaks linked to Al Qaeda. 

Although the exact target of the threats could not be determined, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey told ABC News it is clear “the intent is to attack Western, not just US interests.”

“We consulted the National Security Adviser, and the NSA had advised us that we are already intensifying intelligence gathering and we continue the hardening of targets which are the focus of these alerts such as the US Embassy,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview on Radyo ng Bayan. 

Interpol has asked its 190 member countries to help “determine whether any of these recent events are coordinated and linked” and provide any information that could prevent other incidents. 

Valte assured the public the government is boosting measures against the threats but refused to divulge any specific plans for security reasons. 

“We can’t divulge the security measures because that is like telling those people who wanted to harm [us] these are the things that you should go against,” Valte said. 

After the alert, Western countries moved to temporarily close their embassies in key areas. Washington ordered its embassies across the Islamic world shut Sunday, August 4. Germany, Britain and France will close their embassies in Yemen for at least two days.

See the list of 22 embassies to be closed on Sunday, August 4, as posted on the US State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs website

In 2011, US forces killed Al-Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden, in a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan. – Rappler.com