( CNN ) -- Citing recent attacks , the United States on Wednesday announced that it has suspended public services at its embassy in Sanaa , Yemen . `` Due to recent attacks against Western interests in Yemen , we have temporarily suspended operations of our Embassy in Sana ' a to the public , '' State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement . `` We continue to evaluate the security situation every day , and we will reopen the embassy to the public once it is deemed appropriate . '' She described the move as a `` precautionary step . '' The temporary suspension of operations is due to a reemergence of a threat from several weeks ago that the United States thought it had disrupted , according to a U.S. official with specific understanding of the current situation . A credible threat to the U.S. Embassy emerged around March , the official said , in the same time frame that a video appeared showing some 100 al Qaeda operatives in Yemen , including several who had broken out of jail the month before . The United States thought that threat had been disrupted by a number of Yemeni actions , including , but not directly related to a series of U.S. drone strikes and Yemeni military operations in early April . But in recent days , the threat stream has reemerged , the official said . It is currently assessed to be credible and somewhat specific in terms of the embassy being the target , according to the source . The United States is still attempting to corroborate the threat and determine whether there is a specific time and date , as well as any other specific locations . A second U.S. official said the suspension of the embassy activity was based on credible information about threats to Western interests . The senior official was not sure whether the threat was embassy-specific . There have been no evacuations of the embassy . The U.S. intelligence community has struggled in recent months to track al Qaeda in Yemen via electronic intercepts because the group has changed its communications , following disclosures last year of U.S. eavesdropping methods . Still , the United States is using electronic tracking , satellite imagery and operatives on the ground to try to determine what may be planned . The United Kingdom , meanwhile , advised against travel to Yemen and urged all British nationals to leave the country . `` There is a high threat from terrorism throughout Yemen and specific methods of attack are evolving and increasing in sophistication , '' the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement . It continued : `` Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP ) has previously targeted western interests and there could be a threat to commercial sites , transport infrastructure , diplomatic missions and any place where westerners gather . '' Al Qaeda affiliate groups gaining strength . Al Qaeda gunmen kill French EU worker in Yemen . State media : Dozens of militants killed in Yemen . CNN 's Elise Labott contributed to this report .
NEW : UK issues warning , advising against travel to Yemen . A State Department spokeswoman describes U.S. action as `` precautionary step '' `` We will reopen the embassy to the public once it is deemed appropriate , '' she says . The British Foreign Office has issued a similar statement saying that Britain was ``not aware of any specific threat or intelligence about an imminent attack on London.''