(JTA) — Israel’s government warned its citizens not to travel to certain parts of Africa because of a terrorist warning.
The terrorism bureau of the National Security Council warned of a threat stretching across the Sahel, a region that cuts horizontally through the northern part of the African continent.
The statement, issued Wednesday, was based on reports of plans by an Al Qaida affiliate called Al Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb to abduct Israelis in the region.
The group, the warning said, was behind abductions of German, Austrian, and Canadian nationals and a failed attempt to kidnap four U.S. nationals.
The warning specified the following countries and regions: Ivory Coast, Togo, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali and northern Nigeria.
A day earlier, the terrorism bureau suspended its travel advisory against Israelis traveling to India. That alert had been in place for two months and was based on a warning of a possible attack in October in Goa, a popular tourist region in India. Israelis had also been warned to stay away from Chabad houses, synagoges and places where Jews and Israelis gather in India, for fear of a terrorist attack.
