Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Wednesday, 17 September

BBC

A car bomb and rocket attack on the US embassy in Yemen has killed at least 16 people, including civilians and Yemeni security guards, Yemen officials said.

The bomb targeted the main security gate as staff were arriving for work.

An exchange of gun and rocket fire followed between embassy security guards and militants, whom eyewitnesses said were dressed as policemen.

Hundreds of heavily armed troops have now surrounded the embassy building, which is strafed with bullet holes.

Security sources said six members of the Yemeni security forces, six attackers, and four bystanders were killed in the attack, which occurred at about 0830 (0530 GMT).

US spokesman Ryan Gliha described the atmosphere inside the embassy as calm, adding that arrangements were being made so staff could “go about their business in a safe manner”.

It is the second attack on the embassy in six months.

Mr Gliha said the US was “very aware that there is a continuing threat” and all measures were taken to try to ensure the safety of the embassy and its staff.

Terrorism threat

A group calling itself the Islamic Jihad in Yemen said it carried out the attack, and threatened to target other foreign missions in the region unless its jailed members were released.

The authenticity of the claim could not be immediately verified.

Earlier this year, the US ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel from Yemen after mortar bombs were fired towards the embassy. They missed but hit a nearby school.

Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama Bin Laden, has long been a haven for Islamist militants.

In 2000, 17 US sailors were killed when suicide bombers with alleged links to al-Qaeda blew themselves up on an inflatable raft next to the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden.

The government of Yemen, which backs America’s “war on terror”, has often blamed al-Qaeda for attacks on Western targets in the country.

US special forces have been helping the government fight the Islamist militants.

But analysts say there has been only limited success in restraining the militant groups.

Yemen is a desperately poor corner of the Middle East and, like Afghanistan, there is rugged mountainous terrain, with a vast supply of weapons.