American embassies and consulates across the Muslim world will be shuttered Sunday in response to official "security considerations" that one report said are tied to an al Qaeda plot.
Intelligence officials have obtained information suggesting the terrorist group plans to attack US diplomatic posts in the Middle East and other Muslim countries, CBS News reported.
But the information doesn't specify locations, leading the State Department to order the closure of all embassies that would normally be open on Sunday in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, where Sunday marks the start of the work week.
ABC News said a senior US official warned of a "concerted effort" that involved "a specific threat against a US embassy or consulate."
"We just don't know which one," the official said.
Another official told ABC: "There could be other targets, not just embassies."
ABC also quoted a senior US official as calling the closures a "real precedent-setting event," because ambassadors — not the State Department — generally issue such orders.
The move affects some of the biggest US embassies in the world, including those in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya, where four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stephens, were killed in an attack on an American facility in Benghazi on Sept. 11 of last year.
The US Embassy in Afghanistan will also close, as will embassies in Bangladesh, Jordan, Oman, Algeria and Kuwait, where tens of thousands of American troops are based.
The State Department announced the closings at its daily briefing yesterday but declined to provide any specifics about the security threat.
"The department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations, indicates we should institute these precautionary steps," spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
"The department, when conditions warrant, takes steps like this to balance our continued operations with security and safety."
Harf also said it was "possible we may have additional days of closing, as well."
She said a security analysis could lead individual sites to decide "whether or not they are open and whether they are implementing restrictions or other measures."
bruce.golding@nypost.com
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