Yemen: Massive Suicide Car Bombing, Secondary Assault Rocks US Embassy, 16 Killed.....

Al-Qaeda no doubt......

SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 17 -- Attackers exploded a vehicle bomb outside the main gate of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen on Wednesday in what appeared to be a well-coordinated assault that triggered more explosions and heavy gunfire around the compound.

Yemen's official Saba news agency said 16 people died in the incident, including six Yemeni soldiers, four civilians and six attackers. One of the civilians was an Indian woman at the embassy on business.

There were no immediate reports of American casualties. The embassy is located in the center of Sanaa, Yemen's capital, but the building is set far back from an outer security wall.

The first explosion, at 9:15 a.m., resounded for miles and sent a plume of black smoke over the city.

"It shook everything in my home," said Saddam Hussein, a Yemen man living about 200 yards from the embassy. "One big explosion, then smaller explosions, and gunfire."

A half-hour after the blast, intermittent gunfire still crackled. Helicopters circled the embassy. Ambulances painted in green camouflage carried injured to the city's military hospital.

More here......

CNN reportsthat 10 Yemeni police and civilians were killed when "suspected al Qaeda insurgents disguised as security forces launched an attack on the U.S. Embassy" in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. According to the NY Times, one car drove up, and "several attackers got out...firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles" while a second car "drove into the compound’s gate and exploded in what appeared to be a suicide bombing."

No U.S. Embassy employees were killed; earlier this year, the State Department ordered the non-emergency staff to depart the embassy but lifted the order last month. Back in 2000, Al Qaeda attacked the U.S.S. Cole, in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 American soldiers.

ZIP