Security Alert: Arugam Bay Should Not Be Visited Due to a Real Risk

The Embassy in Sri Lanka has imposed a travel restriction on its personnel due to a serious threat of an attack on popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area, and U.S. citizens are urged to avoid the area until further notice.

Both the US and Israel have issued security alerts on Wednesday, indicating a potential attack on tourist sites in the coastal area of Sri Lanka's Arugam Bay, following credible information from the US Embassy.

The US Embassy has imposed a travel restriction on its personnel in Arugam Bay due to a serious threat, and US citizens are urged to avoid the area until further notice. Israel's National Security Council has raised its travel advisory level for Sri Lanka due to "credible terrorism threats" at the tourist and coastal areas, urging Israeli citizens to leave the area immediately.

"Arugam Bay and the coastal regions of south and west Sri Lanka, including the cities of Ahangame, Galle, Hikkaduwa, and Weligama, are under a level 4 travel alert," the statement said. "We advise you to leave these regions right away. We advise everyone who is presently in these areas to leave the nation or at the very least go to Colombo, the capital, where local security forces are more heavily present.

Israeli people are also cautioned to "avoid openly exhibiting anything that could identify you as Israeli, such as t-shirts with Hebrew writing, or any symbol that discloses your religion or nationality," according to the advisory.

The nature of the possible assault is not further described in any of the alerts. Sri Lanka, which has a majority of Buddhists, has seen demonstrations against Israel's attack in Gaza. However, after the Easter Sunday attack in 2019, when suicide bombers carried out a coordinated sequence of attacks on three Catholic churches and three upscale hotels in Sri Lanka, killing 270 people and injuring 500 more, there haven't been any significant terrorist strikes in the country.