Australian citizens in the country of Yemen were hastily warned to evacuate after intelligence reports of an impending Al Qaeda attack. Yemeni authorities now say the danger has been averted.

The United States and Britain also withdrew its officials and told citizens to leave the country, temporarily closing embassies after a reported increase in communications between high-level Al Qaeda members.

Australia has no embassy in Yemen and therefore had no diplomats to pull out, but reportedly made contact with as many citizens known to be in the country as possible.

Yemeni authorities now say they foiled the Al Qaeda plot which reportedly would have seen dozens of Al Qaeda members disguising themselves in army uniforms before seizing control of two towns and an important oil terminal on the country's south-east coast.

Sadly this is not the end of the terrorist threat in Yemen, which is one of the poorest Arab nations and home to an extremely active branch of Al Qaeda.