ANONYMOUS THREAT LETTER

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000122 SIPDIS TERREP SENSITIVE FOR DS/IP/SA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/ITA AND SA/INS E.0. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER ASEC CE SUBJECT: ANONYMOUS THREAT LETTER Sensitive but unclassified - protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Colombo British High Commission (BHC) counterpart contacted RSO yesterday to report receipt of an anonymous threat letter addressed to Americans and British in Sri Lanka. Presumably, letters were sent to both the BHC and the Embassy, but we have not yet received our letter. The BHC has already forwarded their letter to the Sri Lanka Police for investigation. BEGIN TEXT - WARNING TO THE AMERICANS AND THE BRITISH LIVING IN SRI LANKA. WE MUSLIMS IN SRI LANKA CONDEMN THE THREAT OF ATTACKING IRAQ. THE DAY YOU INVADE IRAQ WE WILL KIDNAP THE AMERICANS AND BRITISH FAMILIES LIVING IN SRI LANKA. LIKE PREVIOUSLY WE WILL NOT PROTEST BUT WE WILL DO ALL WHAT AL-QAEDA AND OSAMA BIN LADEN WILL ORDER US TO DO. WE ARE FOLLOWING AL-QAEDA AND OSAMA BIN LADEN. WE WILL NOT KEEP ANY ROOM FOR THE BRITISH/AMERICAN FORCES TO ATTACK OR STRIKE OR INVADE IRAQ, AT ANY COST. WE ARE BOLD TO SAY OUR MUSLIM POLITICAL PARTIES ARE ALLIED OR JOINTLY WORKING WITH AL-QAEDA ORGANIZATION LED BY OSAMA BIN LADEN. ONCE WE GET OUR SEPARATE STATE AND A MUSLIM PORT IN SRI LANKA WE WILL DO THE NEEDFUL. END TEXT. ¶2. (SBU) Whereas we take all threats seriously, we also see an endless number of Sri Lankan-based anonymous poison pen letters. We generally view these with a good deal of skepticism. We are reporting this one however, because it threatens kidnapping family members. We continue to believe the threat is minimal. We will nonetheless continue to monitor related additional developments and threats closely. Amselem