Britons, Germans urged to leave Benghazi

LONDON -- Britain, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands urged their citizens Thursday to immediately leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, warning of an imminent threat against Westerners days after a deadly hostage crisis in neighboring Algeria.

European officials told The Associated Press that schools were among the potential targets.

The warnings came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testified to Congress about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. They also came as French troops battled al-Qaida-linked militants in the West African nation of Mali, and followed the deaths of 37 foreign hostages seized by Islamist extremists in Algeria.

It was unclear whether those two events were linked to the latest concerns about Libya. The foreign ministries of the three European countries described the threat as specific and imminent but none would elaborate.

The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya's capital far to the west of Benghazi, said there was "no specific information pointing to specific, imminent threats against U.S. citizens."

Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, is where the uprising against longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi began in February 2011. Gadhafi was eventually toppled and killed, and the Arab country has since struggled with increasing insecurity.

Al-Qaida-linked militants operate in Libya alongside other Islamist groups, and the country is awash in weapons looted from Gadhafi's many military depots. -- AP