Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, June 15, 2014.WASHINGTON – Security at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was bolstered and some staff members were being moved out of Iraq’s capital city as it was threatened by the advance of by an al-Qaida inspired insurgency, a State Department spokeswoman said Sunday.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that much of U.S. embassy staff will stay in place even as parts of the country experience instability and violence. She did not specify the number of personnel affected by the shift. The embassy is within the Baghdad’s Green Zone.
“Overall, a substantial majority of the U.S. Embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place and the embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission,” she said.
Some embassy staff members have been temporarily moved elsewhere to more stable places in Iraq and to Jordan, she said.
U.S. travelers in the country were encouraged to exercise caution and limit travel to certain parts of Iraq.