DHAKA: The United States ordered on Saturday’s evacuation of its embassy in Libya due to a ‘very real risk’ to personnel.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said, reports The Straits Times.

Kerry said that the United States sent its embassy personnel overland to Tunisia ‘because of the freewheeling militia violence that is taking place in Tripoli’.

‘A lot of the violence is around our embassy - but not on the embassy - but nevertheless presents a very real risk to our personnel,’ he told reporters in Paris.

Kerry said that the United States was ‘suspending’ operations but not closing the embassy in the Libyan capital, pledging that Washington would stay focused on the country’s troubles.

BDST: 2058 HRS, JUL 26, 2014