UAE terrorism warning 'high' for 3 months

The UK will keep its elevated terrorism threat level for the UAE at "high" for at least the next three months, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday, a move that raises the risk of putting tourists off holidaying in the emirate.

"The advice is routinely reviewed on a monthly basis, and will remain the same for three months if there's no change to the status quo," spokesman Matt Costain told newswire Bloomberg.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) last week upgraded its terrorism threat level from "general" to "high", but said it was not advising people to change their travel plans.

UAE," the FCO said on its website.

The FCO warned that terrorists could target places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests.

However, the FCO said the "vast majority" of visits to the UAE were "trouble-free".

The FCO said there was a "general" threat of terrorism in the other five Gulf states, except Saudi Arabia which also has a "high" terrorism threat level.

The United States last week also warned its citizens about the potential danger of terrorist attacks in the UAE, urging its citizens to "maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times, particularly in public places".

Excluding Saudi Arabia, terrorist attacks in the Gulf are rare. According to the FCO, the only incident of note was a suicide-bomb attack on March 19, 2005 outside the Doha Players’ Theatre in Qatar. One British national was killed and at least 12 other people were injured.