US orders diplomats’ families to leave Nigeria’s capital

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has ordered the families of U.S. embassy staffers in the Nigerian capital to leave due to heightened fears of a terrorist attack. Thursday’s announcement comes just two days after the department said it would allow nonessential personnel at the embassy in Abuja to depart voluntarily for security reasons. The change suggested the U.S. has indications that an attack may be imminent. Nigeria has battled an Islamic insurgency in its northeast for more than a decade, but attacks have been rare in Abuja. In 2011, Islamic extremists linked to the Boko Haram group targeted the United Nations building there with a car bomb, killing 21 people.