The United States has decided to suspend its operations in Sudan and will evacuate its diplomats and their families from the African country, Clinton administration officials said Wednesday.

The decision was taken on the advice of the U.S. ambassador, Timothy Carney. Some 30 Americans will be evacuated via commercial airlines, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The airlift follows a U.N. Security Council call Wednesday for Sudan to extradite three suspects in the attempted assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak when he attended an African summit meeting in Ethiopia last June.

Sudan is led by Muslim fundamentalists and its relations with neighboring Egypt, an ally of the United States, are tense. The State Department also includes Sudan on a list of six nations that the United States contends are sponsors of terrorism.

The officials said only that the step was being taken for security reasons. They stressed it was not a break in diplomatic relations, but a suspension of ties to Sudan.