The U.S. Embassy wishes to inform U.S. citizens that it has received information regarding a heightened risk of kidnapping of Westerners in Timbuktu and surrounding regions. Please avoid the region, and exercise extreme vigilance if you are currently in the area.  Due to serious safety and security concerns, U.S. Embassy personnel are restricted from traveling in the region.

Our current Travel Warning advises against travel to the north of Mali where violent extremist groups continue to target foreigners and have claimed responsibility for multiple terrorist attacks and kidnappings in the past year.

For further information:

• Please check the U.S. Embassy website and the State Department’s travel website for the Worldwide Caution and the Travel Warning for Mali issued on July 6, 2016.
• Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security messages and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
• Contact the U.S. Embassy in Bamako, located at ACI 2000, Rue 243 Porte 297, at +223 20 70 23 00 at 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from Monday – Thursday; 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Friday. The after-hours emergency number for U.S. citizens is +223 66 75 95 79 or +223 66 75 28 60.
• Call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
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