Terror alert closes Australian and Canadian embassies

Australia and Canada today closed their embassies in the Philippines capital Manila following a series of terrorist threats.

Armed police closed streets, set up barricades and circled the Australian Embassy after both it and the Canadian mission were closed.

Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said Canberra had received a “very specific” intelligence report last night that warned of threats by Islamic militants.

“It is not only location specific, targeting the Australian embassy itself, but also it’s time specific in the sense that we are talking over the next few days,” Mr Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

He said threats had also been made against targets linked to other nations but he declined to identify them, saying he would leave that up to the Philippines.

Canada closed its mission “for an indefinite period of time”, according to a recorded telephone message at the embassy.

A foreign ministry official in Ottawa referred a reporter to a Canadian government website that said “threats against Canadians and Canadian interests in the Philippines have heightened and there has been an upsurge in bombings”.

The US Embassy in Manila was closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday and no one was answering the phone.

Police Chief Jovito Gutierrez of the Makati City area of Manila told reporters outside the Australian mission: “I don’t think there’s a problem with security.”

The Australian Embassy is in the Salustiana D Ty Tower building, whose 12 tenants also include offices for the European Union. The EU office remained open but was not admitting visitors or accepting phone calls, according to a security guard who spoke briefly to a reporter.