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16 killed in U.S.'s Yemen Embassy bombing |
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Written by Islamic Times
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Wednesday, 17 September 2008 |
Terrorists targeted the U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, blowing up a car outside the entrance to the compound and killing 16 people in the second attack against the mission in six months.
The death toll included six militants, four civilians and six soldiers guarding the embassy, the state-run Saba news service said, citing the Interior Ministry. The building wasn't damaged and staff in the mission were unhurt, Saba reported.
``At about 9:15 this morning a car exploded at the main gate of the embassy and then there was a secondary explosion,'' Ryan Gliha, a spokesman for the embassy, said in a phone interview.
A group by the name of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to carry out similar strikes in the Persian Gulf region if al-Qaeda prisoners aren't released by the Yemen, the al-Arabiya news channel said. Osama bin Laden's family originally came from the Yemen, and the country has served as a recruiting ground for al-Qaeda in the past.
The attack involved a first car from which attackers exchanged fire with embassy guards, using rocket-propelled grenades, and then a second bomb-laden car was blown up, Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based al-Arabiya said.
``I heard two loud explosions,'' said Christy Quirk, 40, a consultant who was located two miles from the embassy in the lobby of the Burj al-Salam hotel in the old city.
The fortified U.S. Embassy, located in the Dhahr Himyar area, lies about 250 meters (820 feet) from the entrance, where the attack took place. A fire was seen blazing from the compound and ambulances headed toward the area.
USS Cole Attack
The U.S. State Department ordered the withdrawal of non- emergency staff and family members from the embassy in April following an attack on March 18 and an April 6 assault on the Hadda residential compound in Sana'a. The measure was lifted on Aug. 11 and the State Department recommended deferring non- essential travel to the country.
Six children as well as Yemeni workers protecting the embassy were injured when the March 18 blast rocked a school close to the U.S. compound, Yemeni authorities said at the time.
In 2000, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the USS Cole in Yemen in an incident that killed 17 sailors.
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