Travel Alert Laos

US State Department Bureau of diplomatic Security,  March 7, 2016  Travel Alert: Laos STEP Notifications To ACS_LAOS@CALIST.STATE.GOV Mar 7 at 11:43 PM The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to a series of recent shooting attacks along Road 13, a major thoroughfare connecting Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, two of Laos' most popular tourist destinations. The Embassy has prohibited official travel on Road 13 from Km 220 north of Kasi in Vientiane province to Km 270 at the Phou Khoun junction in Luang Prabang province because of the unpredictable nature of the violence and the lack of official information regarding possible motives or a Lao government response. The attacks have killed one and injured nine. The attacks are occurring simultaneously with the ongoing violence in Xaisomboun province, which prompted the Embassy to restrict all official travel to that province as well. This Travel Alert supersedes the February 11, 2016, Travel Alert concerning Xaisomboun province and it expires on May 30, 2016. Five occupants of a public bus and a pickup truck were injured when gunfire tar geted the vehicles on Road 13 on March 1. A similar shooting attack targeted a tourist bus on this same stretch of roadway on January 14. It injured at least one passenger. A separate recent shooting in the same area killed one person and injured three. In Xaisomboun, two roadside attacks occurred in late January 2016, killing three people and injuring a fourth. They involved the detonation of improvised explosive devices. The attacks came after a series of shooting attacks in November and December 2015 that prompted the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane to restrict official travel to Xaisomboun Province. The Embassy still permits its personnel travelling between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng to travel on the "new road" west of Road 13, between Kasi and Luang Prabang, and along Road 13 from Kasi all the way south to Vientiane. U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Laos should take precautions, remain vigilant about their personal security, and be alert to local security developments.