Agency warns of ‘most credible’ terror threat since 9/11 disaster

US missions across the Middle East and Africa will be closed Saturday after US intelligence uncovered what lawmakers said was the most serious threats of an Al Qaeda attack in years.

The US State Department said 19 diplomatic outposts would be shuttered through Saturday.

Britain said its embassy in Yemen would remain closed until the end of the Muslim festival of Eid, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, “due to continuing security concerns.”

France also said its mission there would remain shut until Thursday.

Adding further tension to the situation, Interpol on Saturday issued a security alert after hundreds of militants were freed in jailbreaks.

The US list includes 15 embassies or consulates that were already closed due to the security fears, as well as four additional posts in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius. At least 25 US missions had initially been ordered closed.

US lawmakers on Sunday said the move was prompted by electronic intercepts of high-ranking Al Qaeda operatives signaling a major attack.

The intercepts were “probably one of the most specific and credible threats I’ve seen, perhaps, since 9/11,” Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CBS.

Saxby Chambliss, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there has been “an awful lot of chatter” among terrorists about planning an attack, all “very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.”

Chambliss, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, said a National Security Agency program that electronically intercepts mobile phone and e-mail communication helped gather intelligence about this threat.

The NSA programs have come under intense scrutiny since former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden leaked information to the press about the scope of the surveillance.

“If we did not have these programs then we simply wouldn’t be able to listen in on the bad guys,” said Chambliss, who described the information as “the most serious threat that I’ve seen in the last several years.”