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U.S. Embassy in Yemen attacked

- PHOTO: AP

DEADLY ATTACK: Smoke rises from the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen, following an attack on Wednesday.

DUBAI: The U.S. Embassy in Yemeni capital Sana’a was hit by a car bomb, rockets and gunfire on Wednesday morning. The attack left at least 16 people dead, including one Indian, who was among the four bystanders who were killed.

Six security guards and an equal number of assailants also died during the attack. Hospital officials said the strike injured at least seven people. Witnesses said gunfire lasted 10 minutes. TV pictures showed smoke rising from the embassy area after the attack.

Several nearby buildings were also damaged. The bomb targeted the main security gate at 8.30 a.m., just as the staff were arriving for work.

Then, the embassy security personnel were confronted with gunfire and rocket attacks. The assailants were dressed as policemen, said eyewitnesses. This is the second occasion this year when the U.S. Embassy in San’a has come under attack.

On the previous occasion, mortar bombs missed the embassy building, but hit a nearby girls’ school, injuring several students and killing a Yemeni security guard.

A militant group, Islamic Jihad, has claimed responsibility for the strike.

The family of Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, hails from Yemen. There has been a surge in militant activity in Yemen, mainly after the return of militants from Afghanistan following the U.S. attacks on that country in 2001. Militants, using inflatable boats, had attacked the docked U.S. warship Cole in 2000, leading to the deaths of 17 American soldiers.

AP reports:

Just last month, the State Department allowed the return of non-essential personnel and family members who had been ordered to leave after the earlier attack.

A senior U.S. official in Washington said at least five detonations were heard — but embassy officials spoke of “secondary explosions,” suggesting some could have been RPG blasts.

The embassy said in a statement only that the facility had been attacked by “armed terrorists,” with a number of explosions “in the vicinity” of the main gate that killed an injured a number of guards and Yemeni citizens waiting to enter the embassy.

Washington considers Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh an ally against terrorism, ever since Al-Qaeda’s 2000 bombing of the USS Cole destroyer in the port of Aden.

But the relationship has frequently been rocky, with American officials grumbling over lax Yemeni detention policies for militants.

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