By Graeme Hosken and Gaye Davis
The security threat, which led to US government installations around South Africa shutting down, is alleged to have emanated from an al-Qaeda splinter group.
The group, according to well-placed security sources, telephoned the US embassy in Pretoria on Monday and apparently gave detailed plans about alleged attacks planned against several US government buildings in South Africa.
Among those Pretoria buildings identified as being under apparent threat were the US embassy and USAid offices.
A security source within the intelligence field said the calls, believed to have come from South Africa, had been intercepted by US intelligence agencies.
The splinter group, said the source, is believed to be based in Africa and it is thought that the killing of al-Qaeda operative, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, in Somalia by US forces earlier this month may have prompted the threat.
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Nabhan, who was shot dead by US Special Operations forces, was linked to the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and is thought to have been the mastermind of the bomb attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Mombasa in 2002 in which 10 Kenyans and three Israelis were killed.
He is also believed to have been behind the botched missile attack on an Israeli airline near Mombasa.
While information indicates that possible threats were also made to US government installations in other southern African countries, the US government has said only their installations in South Africa were shut down.
Sharon Hudson-Dean, US Embassy spokeswoman, said in a statement all US government facilities in South Africa expected to resume normal operations tomorrow.
"The US Mission wishes to express its appreciation to the South African Government, and in particular the South African Police Service's Crime Intelligence Division, for outstanding co-operation and support."
The Pretoria News can reveal that South Africa intelligence agents from the National Intelligence Agency, police crime intelligence unit, as well as operatives from the South African Secret Service, are working with US intelligence officials to track down those behind the threat.
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