() – Both the United States and Israel issued security alerts this Wednesday warning of a possible attack on tourist sites in a coastal area of Sri Lanka.
The US embassy alert reported that they had “received credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist sites in the Arugam Bay area.”
“Due to the serious risk posed by this threat, the embassy has imposed a travel restriction for embassy staff to Arugam Bay, effective immediately and until further notice,” it said. Additionally, it indicated that U.S. citizens are “strongly urged to avoid the Arugam Bay area until further notice.”
Israel’s alert, issued by its National Security Council, calls on Israeli citizens to “immediately leave Arugam Bay and the southern and western coastal areas of Sri Lanka.” Israel raised its travel warning level for Sri Lanka due to “credible terrorist threats in tourist and coastal areas,” it said.
“The travel alert for Arugam Bay and coastal areas in the south and west of Sri Lanka (including the cities of Ahangame, Galle, Hikkaduwa and Weligama) has been raised to level 4,” it stated. “We recommend leaving these areas immediately. For those currently in these areas, we recommend leaving the country or at least traveling to the capital city Colombo, where there is a greater presence of local security forces.”
The alert also advises Israeli citizens to “avoid openly displaying anything that could identify them as Israeli, such as T-shirts with writing in Hebrew, or any symbol that reveals their religion or nationality.”
None of the alerts offer further details about the nature of the possible attack. There have been protests in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka against Israel’s extended war in Gaza. However, there have been no major terrorist attacks in the nation since the 2019 Easter Sunday attack, when suicide bombers launched a series of coordinated attacks on three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, killing 270 people and injuring to 500 more.
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