<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile — Al Qaida wore police uniforms in Yemen attack on U.S. embassy
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Friday, September 19, 2008 Free Headline Alerts

CAIRO — Al Qaida has finally succeeded in attacking the U.S. embassy in Yemen but killed no Americans.

Al Qaida fighters, armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, stormed the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Sept. 17. The attackers, dressed in Yemeni police uniforms, penetrated an embassy checkpoint and killed guards. In all 16 people were killed.

"The attackers succeeded in reaching the embassy, but they did not control any part of the compound or kill Americans," an official said. "This was clearly an achievement on our part."

Al Qaida had targeted the U.S. embassy at least three times since 2006. In March 2008, Al Qaida fired mortars toward the embassy.

Officials said the Al Qaida strike began with a suicide car bombing outside the U.S. embassy. At least six attackers then stormed the concrete checkpoints that surround the embassy compound.

"This was a highly sophisticated attack that gauged the responses of Yemeni security forces," the official said.

Yemeni security guards and U.S. Marines fought the Al Qaida squad for at least 10 minutes. Officials said six fighters and six Yemeni guards were killed and another four were civilians who died in the crossfire. They said the embassy was damaged and that an FBI team was sent to Yemen for an investigation.

"There's an ongoing issue with Al Qaida violent extremists and terrorism in Yemen," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The Al Qaida attack appeared to take the U.S. embassy by surprise. In August 2008, the State Department ordered the return of non-essential personnel and family members in wake of the arrest of leaders of the Al Qaida network in Yemen.

"Have they [Yemen] done a lot in the past?" McCormack asked. "Yes. Could they do more? Yes, absolutely. We want to work with them to build up their capabilities at this point."

Accounts of the latest attack varied. The Yemeni Interior Ministry said Al Qaida employed two car bombs, one of which penetrated the first ring of concrete blocks. Later, officials said 25 suspects were arrested.

"Two booby-trapped cars tried to crash through the security cordon thrown around the U.S. embassy," an Interior Ministry official told the official Yemeni news agency, Saba. "But security guards forced the attackers to detonate their cars far from the building, leading to the death of the six attackers, one of whom wore an explosives belt."

The Al Qaida force was divided into those who assaulted the embassy and those directed to block the arrival of Yemeni security reinforcements. Some of the injured Yemenis were struck by fire from snipers, dressed as soldiers, across the street from the embassy.

U.S. embassy sources said only one car exploded and that Al Qaida fired RPGs into the embassy compound. The sources said the embassy would remain open despite the attack.

"A number of explosions occurred in the vicinity of the embassy's main gate and there were several secondary explosions," the U.S. embassy, which did not elaborate, said. "A number of Yemeni security personnel were killed and injured, as were several Yemeni citizens waiting to gain entry to the embassy."

The Al Qaida-aligned group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Officials said Islamic Jihad, which has demanded the release of its members, was part of the Al Qaida network in Yemen.

"We, the organization of Islamic Jihad in Yemen declare our responsibility for the suicide attack on the American embassy in Sanaa," Jihad said in a statement hours after the attack. "We will carry out the rest of the series of attacks on the other embassies that were declared previously, until our demands are met by the Yemeni government."

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