[R-G] 16 Are Killed in Attack on U.S. Embassy in Yemen

[Anthony Fenton]

16 Are Killed in Attack on U.S. Embassy in Yemen

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/world/middleeast/18yemen.html?bl&ex=1221796800&en=30e6b5e2e61b3bb9&ei=5087%0A
By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: September 17, 2008

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Militants disguised as soldiers ambushed the United  
States embassy compound in Sana, Yemen, Wednesday morning with rocket- 
propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb, in an attack  
that left 16 people dead including six of the attackers, Yemeni  
officials said.

No American officials or embassy employees were killed or wounded in  
the attack, embassy officials said. Six of the dead were Yemeni guards  
at the compound entrance, and four were civilians waiting to be  
allowed in.

It was the deadliest attack in years in Yemen, a poor south Arabian  
country of 22 million where militants aligned with Al Qaeda have  
carried out a number of recent bombings.

It began at 9:15 a.m. when gunmen dressed in camouflage uniforms drove  
up and began firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at a  
checkpoint outside the heavily fortified embassy compound, said one  
Yemeni official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was  
not authorized to comment.

As the embassy guards began firing back, the suicide bombers drove  
through the checkpoint and detonated their car close to the compound’s  
front gate, the official said.

Satellite television images showed black smoke rising from the blast  
site, where hundreds of Yemeni security forces streamed in and closed  
off the streets.

The attack was especially shocking to Yemenis because it came during  
the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast during the  
day and are meant to abstain from sin.

Just last month, the embassy had reversed an April order for all non- 
essential personnel to leave the country, because the security  
situation appeared to have improved following a series of bombings in  
the spring, according to Ryan Gliha, an embassy spokesman. Also,  
Yemeni counter-terrorism forces had scored some notable successes in  
hunting down militants, including an attack on an Al Qaeda safe house  
on August 11 in which five were killed.

After the attack on Wednesday, a little-known Yemeni group calling  
itself Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. However, Yemeni officials  
seemed skeptical, saying they suspected Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch,  
which has become more active over the past year.

After the raid last month, the group released an Internet statement  
promising to carry out attacks in revenge.

Yemen has long been viewed as a haven for jihadists. It became a  
special concern for the United States in 2000, after Al Qaeda  
operatives detonated a suicide bomb alongside the U.S.S. Cole in Aden,  
on Yemen’s southern coast, killing 17 American sailors.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Yemen pursued a counter- 
terrorism partnership with the United States, and its elite American- 
trained forces have had some important successes in fighting jihadists.

But over the past year or so, jihadists claiming allegiance to Al  
Qaeda appear to have reorganized, releasing more propaganda materials  
on the Internet and carrying out attacks. In July 2007, suicide  
bombers killed eight Spanish tourists in eastern Yemen, and there were  
two unsuccessful attacks on oil installations.

Earlier this year there were several attacks on foreign embassies. In  
March, mortars fired at the United States embassy compound in Sana  
struck a nearby school for girls instead, killing a security guard,  
wounding more than a dozen girls and prompting the United States and  
other countries to send non-essential embassy staff home.

The embassy compound has also been the scene of occasional political  
violence in previous years, including an attack by a lone gunman in  
2006 and a large demonstration against the American-led invasion of  
Iraq in March 2003, in which two Yemenis were fatally shot and dozens  
injured.

Yemen is also facing serious security threats on other fronts,  
including an intermittent rebellion in the north that has left  
thousands of people dead since it began in 2004, and continuing riots  
and instability in the south.

Khaled Hammadi contributed reporting from Sana, Yemen.