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US embassy in Yemen hit by bombing several feared dead
Updated at: 1400 PST, Wednesday, September 17, 2008
SANAA: The US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was hit by a car bombing and rocket fire on Wednesday sparking a series of explosions around the heavily fortified compound, a witness said.
The car was blown up in front of the entrance to the compound and gunmen in a second vehicle then opened fire on embassy security guards with rockets as well as small arms, the witness said.
The witness said there were casualties among the Yemeni police detachment posted outside the embassy but he could not specify their number or condition. Another witness saw at least two ambulances at the scene.
A US embassy official declined to comment on the blasts. "I cannot confirm it. I cannot talk about it," the official said asking not to be identified. It was the second attack on the embassy this year. In March, a schoolgirl and a policeman were killed and 19 people wounded in a hail of mortar fire that US diplomats said targeted the embassy.
After another attack against a residential compound used by US oilmen the following month, the US State Department ordered the evacuation of non-essential diplomatic staff.
Al-Qaeda said it carried out the rocket attack on the Hadda residential compound to avenge the capture of one its commanders in Yemen, Abdullah al-Rimi.
"Embassy employees are not authorised to travel outside of Sanaa and have been advised to avoid hotels, restaurants, and tourist areas and to strictly limit their exposure in public places until further notice," an embassy statement said in April.
US embassy in Yemen hit by bombing several feared dead
Updated at: 1400 PST, Wednesday, September 17, 2008
SANAA: The US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was hit by a car bombing and rocket fire on Wednesday sparking a series of explosions around the heavily fortified compound, a witness said.
The car was blown up in front of the entrance to the compound and gunmen in a second vehicle then opened fire on embassy security guards with rockets as well as small arms, the witness said.
The witness said there were casualties among the Yemeni police detachment posted outside the embassy but he could not specify their number or condition. Another witness saw at least two ambulances at the scene.
A US embassy official declined to comment on the blasts. "I cannot confirm it. I cannot talk about it," the official said asking not to be identified. It was the second attack on the embassy this year. In March, a schoolgirl and a policeman were killed and 19 people wounded in a hail of mortar fire that US diplomats said targeted the embassy.
After another attack against a residential compound used by US oilmen the following month, the US State Department ordered the evacuation of non-essential diplomatic staff.
Al-Qaeda said it carried out the rocket attack on the Hadda residential compound to avenge the capture of one its commanders in Yemen, Abdullah al-Rimi.
"Embassy employees are not authorised to travel outside of Sanaa and have been advised to avoid hotels, restaurants, and tourist areas and to strictly limit their exposure in public places until further notice," an embassy statement said in April.
US embassy in Yemen hit by bombing several feared dead
