WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (AFP) - The United States has dropped its month-old warning to US citizens not to travel to the Gulf state of Bahrain and told diplomats and embassy families who left the country due to security fears in July to return, the State Department said Thursday.
The decision to drop the warning and remove so-called "authorized departure" status for non-essential diplomats and the families of embassy personnel came after authorities in Bahrain satisfied US concerns about the security situation which had prompted the July warnings, it said.
"The decision to lift authorized departure status resulted from a careful and thorough review of the existing security situation in Bahrain and the potential for future attacks on US interests and facilities in the area," said deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
"The mission will continue to review its security posture and will continue to monitor the situation closely making changes to operations as circumstances warrant," he said.
The travel warning for Bahrain was removed from the State Department's website late Wednesday without announcement.
That warning was issued on July 3, one day after the Pentagon ordered dependents of US military personnel and non-emergency defense officials to leave Bahrain temporarily because of credible reports that Muslim extremists were planning attacks on US interests.
Officials said on Thursday that the Pentagon was likely to rescind its order in line with the elimination of the travel warning, although there was no immediate announcement and Ereli said it was possible the Defense Department might keep its restrictions in place.
Each branch of government has "to make (its) decisions based on ... how much of a target we are, how much security we can provide for ourselves and an assessment of the threat to our facilities and our personnel," Ereli said.
Bahrain is the home port of the US Fifth Fleet and hosts some 5,000 Americans, most of them military personnel.
The US warnings followed Bahrain's release of six Islamists suspected of having links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network who had allegedly been plotting terrorist attacks, officials said.
After initially stating the six were planning to carry out "grave acts" in the tiny kingdom, Bahraini authorities released them without charge on June 23 but kept them under surveillance.
Five of the six were re-arrested along with a new sixth suspect on July 14 and charged with preparing "a plan to carry out attacks using explosives against government, economic and tourist facilities," Bahrain's interior ministry said.
Ereli said the arrests were a factor in the decision to lift the travel warning which he said was based "on a variety of considerations, including steps we've been able to take to protect ourselves, as well as counterterrorism cooperation and other steps the host government has been able to take."
"We believe that Bahrain recognizes the important stakes that are involved here," he said.