BERLIN, Jan 27, (RTRS): Al Qaeda is plotting to kidnap German and British citizens in Libya, the Spiegel weekly magazine quoted German intelligence sources as saying.

Germany and Britain were among several Western countries to urge their nationals to leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, days after a deadly attack by Islamist militants in neighbouring Algeria.

Britain cited a “specific and imminent” threat to Westerners in Libya’s second largest city, but officials declined to give any details.

Spiegel, citing sources in the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), said on Sunday al Qaeda and other militant Islamist groups were specifically preparing attacks on British and German citizens in the area.

It gave no further details and the BND declined to comment.

On Thursday, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle described the situation in Benghazi, cradle of the uprising that ousted Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, as “serious and delicate” but also declined to provide any details.

The call to leave Benghazi irked Libyans, keen to win foreign investment to rebuild their fractured infrastructure and boost the oil industry after the revolution against Gaddafi.

Few Westerners are believed to be in Benghazi, which has experienced a wave of violence against diplomats as well as military and police officers, including an attack in September that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans.

At least 38 hostages were killed in an attack on Algeria’s In Amenas gas complex near the Libyan border earlier this month. The launch of France’s military operations in Mali has also cranked up tensions in North Africa.

Meanwhile, the British government warned on Sunday of a “specific threat” to foreigners in Somalia’s breakaway enclave of Somaliland and urged its nationals to leave the country immediately.

Britain’s Foreign Office gave no details of the threat in the Horn of Africa state, but highlighted in a statement the ongoing danger of “kidnapping for financial or political gain, motivated by criminality or terrorism”.

“We are now aware of a specific threat to Westerners in Somaliland, and urge any British nationals who remain there against our advice to leave immediately,” the statement said.

Ireland has issued the same alert to its citizens, a spokesman at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said.

It follows a warning from European countries on Thursday of a “specific and imminent” threat to foreigners in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Britain spoke earlier this month of a growing militant threat in North Africa, which Prime Minister David Cameron has called a “magnet for jihadists”.

Britain already advises against all travel to Somalia and Somaliland due to the “high threat from terrorism” and kidnapping.

Somalia has suffered two decades of civil war that deepened poverty and lawlessness and led to a rise in piracy in the busy shipping lanes off its coast.

There have been threats against foreigners in Somalia since US forces killed al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in 2011, the Foreign Office says. Islamist militants have attacked overseas workers in the past and they continue to pose a risk.

A Foreign Office spokesman said there were relatively few Britons working in Somalia, mainly charity workers and diplomats. However, there is a higher number of Britons with a Somalia background who visit relatives in the region.

Britain has one of the oldest and largest Somali communities in Europe, with an estimated population of up to 100,000.

The Foreign Office, citing security reasons, said it would not release more details about the threat or comment on the source of their information.

It said the threat centres on Somaliland, a former British colony that has not won international recognition as a state since it declared independence from Somalia in 1991.

Somaliland has enjoyed relative stability compared to the rest of Somalia and has held a series of peaceful elections.