US and Britain tell citizens to leave Kuwait

Britain and America urged their citizens yesterday to leave Kuwait immediately, claiming Saddam Hussein could attack the country with chemical or biological weapons, or terrorists could strike at Westerners. They also ordered home all their non-essential diplomats.

Foreign Office officials said they believed the threat of terrorism was high and the position would become even more dangerous after a war against Iraq began.

British officials were negotiating with British Airways for extra flights to help up to 3,500 British and Commonwealth citizens leave Kuwait. They were also trying to organise private charter flights, which were expected to start flying people out today.

A spokesman for the British embassy in Kuwait said there were normally 4,500 British and Commonwealth expatriates in the country but 1,000 had already left.He added that he hoped everyone would heed the Foreign Office's advice and leave immediately.

There were no signs of extra activity at Kuwait airport and British Airways said there were seats available on last night's flight. But some Britons working in Kuwait said they had not been fully informed. Stephen MacNally, 46, and Mary Pickup, 50, have been in Kuwait for six weeks, as contract catering staff for the British military.

Since the FO advice was issued, they had taken several tearful phone calls from family in Britain urging them to return. They are staying with other staff at a mid-market hotel in Kuwait City, travelling to a British base near the international airport on 12-hour shifts. "They told me to take enough clothes with me for five days tonight," said Mrs Pickup, from St Helens, who is married with four children. "But I wish they would come and tell us what is happening." Mr MacNally, from Liverpool, said their employer should fly them out, perhaps to Cyprus, until the position calmed.

Washington, which has reduced its Kuwaiti embassy to all but essential staff, has extended the order to its missions in Syria, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, citing the "deteriorating security situation in the region". With Kuwait the launchpad for any attack, the airport is expected to close for civilian flights, possibly for several days, after hostilities begin.

America, in particular, is concerned at possible attacks on the 8,000-strong US community in Kuwait and has advised any citizens staying to exercise caution, avoiding crowds, keeping a low profile, and varying times and routes for any travel. In January, gunmen on a road south of Kuwait City ambushed a vehicle carrying two American contractors for the United States military, killing one of them and seriously wounding the other.

A State Department spokes-man said the decision to order diplomats home was reached after talks with the mission chiefs in each of the areas.